Halloween
by Captain Swan 666
Summary: Team Free Will are undercover students investigating the mysterious deaths of college kids which seem to be mimicking famous horror movie demises. There will be much brotp (Team Free Will XD) and otp (Destiel ;) This is set in season 9, and in this story it is close to Halloween, there will be costumes and candy eventually :) Thnx for reading, plz write in horror movies I should do
1. Did you remember pie?

A cold breeze blew in through the crack in the cheap motel's window. Castiel pulled his trench coat tighter around himself. He shivered, which gave him an odd feeling. It was an instinct he wasn't used to, like many of the things he was experiencing in his newfound human state. The cold was vaguely uncomfortable, but there was also something almost nice about it. It made him feel…alive. The crisp smell of dead leaves was also drifting in through the cracked window, and it was pleasant. It reminded him of a few of the heavens he had once enjoyed visiting. Autumn was a nice season, filled with chilly breezes, drifting red, orange, and yellow leaves, candles, and tea.

Sam was going to pick up pizza, beer, and pie. Well, hopefully pie. Dean had bet Cas ten dollars that he would forget the pie. Cas hoped that Sam would remember, not just because he was excited to try pie for the first time after Dean's glamorous description, but also because he didn't have very much money left from working at the Mini Mart.

Dean was interviewing a group of young college girls. He was posing as someone possibly interested in going to the college. He hadn't wanted to do the usual FBI disguise because he thought that the girls would be intimidate by that, whereas a peer they would be willing to share their story with. Sam and Cas had gone along to talk to them earlier, but Dean had insisted on going back alone for a second interview. He claimed that his brother and the former angel were both weird and awkward around girls, which Cas supposed was, after all, true.

The girls said they had seen their friend being stabbed by a mysterious figure in the dormitory's hall. They described him as wearing a white mask, and vanishing into thin air after pulling the bloody knife from their friend's heart. Dean had been gone awhile now, and Cas was starting to wonder if his friend hadn't been distracted by activities other than interrogation. All of the girls had been very pretty, and every one of them wore overly revealing outfits despite the autumnal chill in the air.

Cas had found that lust was very difficult to overcome as a human, and he'd attempted to make conversation with a few of the girls hoping to pique one of their interest. They either hadn't taken very well to him, or he had simply come off as friendly instead of flirty. According to Sam, the reason for this was that Cas said something about 'sharing a profound bond' with Dean, and they got the 'wrong idea.' Cas had no idea what that could mean.

Even if those girls didn't take to him, Cas was enjoying hunting with the Winchesters. He supposed that was an odd thing to think, seeing as they had the angel war, the demon war, and at this moment a white masked killer to worry about. He couldn't help feeling though, that despite the chaos of the world some things were as they should be. He was working with the two people that meant most to him in the entire universe. Team Free Will was hunting together. One high school drop out with a GED and six bucks to his name, an ex-blood junkie, and a fallen angel turned human. They were an odd group, but they had saved the world more than once, and Cas wouldn't be surprised if they managed it again.

He didn't really understand why Dean had wanted him to leave before, and it made him sad to think that maybe he wasn't completely welcome. Dean had been nothing but nice to him so far though, so maybe he had changed his mind. Before Cas could worry anymore about this, the door of the hotel room swung open.

Dean came in the door in a hurry, closing it behind him and rubbing his hands against his arms. He was grinning, confirming Cas' suspicions about his friend's inappropriate intent with the college girls. His face instantly switched to concern when he saw Cas sitting on the bed with his shoulders tight and his arms wrapped around himself.

"Hey Cas, you alright buddy?"

"Yes, I'm just a bit cold. It's not something I'm used to," Cas said gruffly. He rubbed his hands together, trying to create friction, but his fingers didn't really feel any less numb. Dean sat down on the bed beside his angel, or ex-angel now, taking one of Cas' hands in his own palm. Dean placed his other hand on top of Cas', and began to rub. It felt amazingly warm, and Dean's warm side pressed against his own helped as well.

"Yeah well, the cold isn't all bad," Dean said shrugging as he continued to rub. "It's a great excuse to cuddle." Dean placed Cas' now much warmer hand in his own lap, took the still cold hand, and began to rub that one as well.

Dean had placed Cas' hand very high up on his thigh, and there was a certain warmth coming from somewhere. Cas was careful to keep both his hands completely relaxed. Dean turned his head towards Cas, and their faces were so close that Cas could feel the hunter's warm breath.

"Cas, buddy…I'm really sorry about telling you to leave before. I shouldn't have done that."

"I understand," Castiel replied softly, although he didn't. They just sat there, looking at each other as Dean rubbed Cas' hand between his own. There were a few rather intense minutes of staring before the door opened again, and Sam came in.

"Hey guys," Sam said as he set down the pizza and two grocery bags on the table. He hesitated when he saw the positions of the former angel and his brother. "Should I go, or…" he trailed off awkwardly, running his hands through his silky auburn hair, as he often did.

"No," Dean said quickly, letting go of Cas' hand. Cas' other hand remained laying on his lap, though. Dean grinned at Sam. "Did you remember pie?" he asked.

"Actually, yeah," Sam said. "I-" Dean interrupted before Sam could finish.

"Damn it!" Dean muttered, fishing in his pocket. After a moment he pulled out a five and a one, and handed them to Cas. "Sorry man, this is all I have right now," he sighed. "I'll get you the rest later, I promise.

"Really?" Sam asked indignantly. "Seriously, guys?"

"I won't forget this, Dean," Cas said, pocketing the money. "Being human has taught me the value of money. Before, I always thought that humans were being so petty, but now that I understand thirst, hunger, the need for warm clothes-"

"Speaking of which, it's freezing in here," Sam interrupted, shivering and making sure that all the windows were closed. He was wearing a flannel jacket, which he hugged around his tall frame as he sat down on the other queen sized mattress, the one Dean and Cas weren't on.

"Yes, there's a crack in the window," Castiel stated, nodding to the window. "I don't mind it so much. The cold is an excuse to cuddle up." Sam snorted, unable to completely suppress a bout of laughter as he noted Dean and Cas' spots so close together on the bed, and Cas' hand in Dean's lap.

"Oh come on, man," Dean said. "I didn't mean it like-"

"Anyway, moving on," Sam interrupted his older brother who was muttering inaudibly something about 'people always taking things the wrong way.' "I did remember pie," Sam continued, ignoring Dean. "I got pumpkin pie sense it's almost Halloweeen, and..." he stood up and walked over to the table, pulling something out of one of the grocery bags. It was a stack of DVDs. "I thought we could watch some scary movies to celebrate the season."


	2. Under the Covers

Dean pulled the blanket up to his chin. Sam was putting in a DVD of the original "Halloween" movie, and Cas was lying next to him under the covers. There were only two queen sized mattresses in the motel room. Sam had suggested asking about sending up a cot, but Dean had waved him off. It didn't seem fair to have Cas sleep on something so uncomfortable. Besides, it was kind of nice to have another warm body in the bed to keep the cold at bay.

The sound of some recent pop song played, and Sam pulled his phone from his pocket. Dean rolled his eyes at his brother's taste in music, as usual. He had never been able to turn Sam onto classic rock.

"Hello?" Sam answered the phone, standing up from putting in the movie, and pacing the room. "Oh, really?" he paused. "OK, well we're in-" he gave the room number and the name of that week's motel. "Yeah, meet us here. OK, see you in a few," he said, hanging up.

"Who was that?" Dean asked.

"It was Charlie," Sam said. "She was planning on working this case. She saw us at the college and decided not to come over since she didn't know what our story was this time."

"Oh, so…She's still hunting?" Dean asked. He was trying to be casual, but the concern in his voice was impossible to hide.

"She's an adult, Dean," Sam reminded his big brother. "Besides, we could use some help with this one. I'm honestly kind of stumped about what this could be."

There was a knock at the hotel door. Sam answered it, and Charlie came in, grinning. She was wearing a "Star Wars" T-shirt, and holding up a peace symbol as she tossed her mane of red hair behind her.

"What's up bitches?" she said.

"Hey Charlie," Dean said, getting up to hug her.

"Hi Charlie," Sam said, handing her a beer and a slice of pizza.

"Thanks," Charlie said, plopping down on Sam's bed. "So what do we kn-" she stopped in the middle of the word, seeing Castiel who was still sitting on the bed, looking awkward. "Holy Face of Bo," she said, standing up again, leaving her pizza and beer on the nightstand. "Are you Castiel?"

"Um, yes," Cas said. He climbed out from the covers, and stood beside the bed uncomfortably.

"Wow!" Charlie said, hugging him. He didn't hug back. She pulled away, patting his arms in apology. Charlie was fumbling over her words. She spoke so fast Dean wondered if Cas even caught a word she was saying. He could be a bit slow with social cues at times. In a way it was kind of adorable…

Dean thought about the way his angel, now former angel, would always tilt his head slightly and gaze with wide blue eyes filled with bemusement whenever he didn't understand something. He sometimes even tried to make references to pop culture, or things he had hear someone talking about, and failed horribly. Dean gave him a hard time about it, but only in the most teasing way. As he had once told Cas, he never wanted his friend to change.

Cas' eyes were so beautiful. They were so wide, and blue, every shade of blue seemed to be captured in them. His perpetual bed head only added to the cute factor. It wouldn't have been nearly as sweet if it was intentional, but it had probably honestly never occurred to Cas that combing his hair was something he should do. Dean shook his head the tiniest bit, coming back to earth. Charlie was still babbling in her endearing way.

"I'm so sorry, it's just…wow. I read all about you in the Carver Edlund books, and, just…Wow. It's uh, it's an honor to meet you. I'm Charlie, by the way."

"It's an honor to meet you also," Cas said, looking at her seriously. "I've heard a lot about you. Thank you, for helping defeat Dick Roman."

"Um, no problem, I guess," Charlie said, blushing.

"Alright, enough flirting you two," Dean teased.

"Um, Dean, are you forgetting something?" Charlie asked. "Wrong gender…for me at least" she glanced briefly down at Cas' crotch and shrugged. Dean rolled his eyes. Then, something odd happened. Charlie winked at him. It was so fast he couldn't question it, but he was sure it happened. "So what do we know about this case so far?" Charlie asked, changing the subject.

"Not much," Sam sighed. "The girls say that the killer wore a blue shirt, blue pants, and a white mask. He stabbed their friend in the heart in the middle of the dormitory, and then they say he disappeared into thin air."

"Huh," Charlie said, sitting back down on Sam's bed. He sat down beside her, and Dean and Cas got back into their bed. Everyone pulled the covers over themselves. Charlie made a 'Brr' sound with her lips, shivering. "Well, what are you guys watching?"

"Halloween," Sam replied, hitting play with the remote. The signature eerie music began to play, and everyone settled in to enjoy the film.

After they had all eaten a few pieces of pizza, Dean cut the pie. He gave Sam and Charlie each small slivers and himself and Cas huge slices. He placed the paper plate on Cas' lap triumphantly over the blankets after adjusting himself to a comfortable position. His side was pressed against Cas' beneath the thin hotel cover to the point that would be uncomfortable with most people. Dean and Castiel shared a more profound bond than most people, and Dean found that even now they weren't close enough if anything.

"Mm," Cas murmured. Dean, Sam, and Charlie watched in amusement as the ex-angel's eyes grew wide, and then closed. He took a moment to simply enjoy the sweet moisture of the pumpkin pie. Dean was almost jealous. Pie was so good he sort of wished he could try it again for the first time.

"It's like heaven, or…Well, no, not that. Something much better than Heaven, in your mouth, am I right?" Dean asked, grinning hugely.

"This is the best thing I have ever had in my mouth," Castiel replied. "I now understand your constant reminders to Sam, Dean. And Sam, how could you ever forget to buy this?"

"Hey, I remembered this time, didn't I?" Sam muttered, annoyed. They all laughed before turning back to the movie.

As they watched the movie, the pie quickly vanished, and the paper plates ended up scattered around the room. Dean lay back into the pillows, pulling the blanket around his neck. Cas followed suite after a second. It had grown dark outside, and a full moon was visible out the window, covered by spooky dark clouds. Dean felt Cas grab his hand under the blanket, and begin to rub it between both of his own. It was a nice feeling, very relaxing, and it did help a lot with the cold.

After a few moments of that, Cas switched to Dean's other hand. He placed Dean's already warmed up hand in his lap. He placed it right in the middle of his lap. It didn't feel weird though. It felt right. He found his fingers moving gently and playing with the fabric of Cas' pants.

Dean could feel his friend's side shivering beside him. Cas had stopped rubbing Dean's hand. Dean glanced at him, and saw that his eyes were starting to close. A second later, his head was resting on Dean's shoulder. Dean swung his arm around his friend, and squeezed his shivering shoulder slightly. His other hand continued to rest on Cas' lap, but it was still now.

Sam and Charlie were talking quietly about something. Dean noticed both of their eyes flit towards him and Cas a few times. He pretended not to see this, though. He found himself growing sleepy, and his head drifted to the side until it was sort of leaning against Cas' hair.


	3. A man in old lady's clothes?

Sam yanked the covers off of his brother and Castiel. Both of their eyes flew open, and they struggled to sit up. They were pressed against each other tightly, and Dean's arm was under Cas' neck. When they had both managed to get into sitting positions, Dean rubbed his eyes and yawned.

"What is it Sammy?" he asked.

"Another girl just died," called Charlie's voice from the bathroom. She came out wearing a "Game of Thrones" T-shirt and a leather jacket, her hair pulled back into a pony-tail.

"What happened?" Cas asked as he climbed out of bed.

"She was stabbed to death in the shower by some psycho a few hours ago," Charlie said. It was still pretty early in the morning.

"How did you hear about it so quickly?" Dean asked, impressed.

"Well, now that I've been hunting I sleep with my headphones on, plugged into a police scanner. I've trained myself to stay only half asleep so I'm still listening for anything relevant." That girl could do anything she put her mind to. It made Dean sad that she had set her sights on hunting. She was truly a part of Team Free Will, whether he liked it or not. As much as their team could use as many players as possible, he hated that Charlie had to give up any chance of a normal life.

Hunters always met the same gruesome end. Charlie had sealed her fate when she decided to take on hunting, and he wondered if she completely understood that. She would never be an old woman sitting on a porch swing with her wife surrounded by grandchildren. He thought about how hard his little brother had worked to hold onto that dream of living a normal life, and couldn't imagine anyone choosing to be a hunter when there were other options.

Sammy…He loved that kid so damn much. He hated the lie he was living by not telling Sam that his mind and body were not really his own. Dean wished that he could be honest about Ezekiel's presence, but he couldn't risk it. Despite what the angel was doing for him, Dean found himself resenting Zeke. He only hoped that the pretentious douche didn't make an appearance anytime soon. Beyond just not wanting to deal with the angel, Dean was worried that he would have to tell Castiel to leave again, and he couldn't keep putting off explanations. Cas wasn't an idiot, he would eventually figure out that something was up.

Or maybe he wouldn't. Castiel had plenty to worry about right now without obsessing over Dean. Of course, Dean had plenty to worry about too…Sometimes though, he found himself obsessing over his ex-angel despite the pile of other shit he had to think about. He sometimes questioned whether or not their profound bond was totally platonic. Sure, there had been multiple times when their interactions had gone beyond friendship, maybe even a few times pretty far beyond friendship, but….He still wasn't sure what they were to each other, except that they cared deeply about one another, and shared a profound bond. Dean was pulled from his thoughts by Charlie telling them that she was ready to go.

After they were all ready to leave and Dean had checked into the room for another night, the four friends made their way out to the Impala. It was now late morning, but the sky remained pale grey, and the cool breeze which shifted the fall leaves on the ground added to the grim mood cast by the news of another dead girl. Dean couldn't help but smile a little as he turned the keys, though. As usual, he was comforted by the soft purr of his baby's engine. The song "Put your Lights On" by Santana blasted through the stereo as the Impala pulled out of the hotel parking lot.

There were a group of college students sitting at tables outside of a diner which was practically on campus. Team Free Will pulled up beside the diner and carefully chose a table near the kids. They all ordered coffee, and Dean ordered bacon and pancakes as well.

"I can't believe it," said Charlie loudly. "I mean, I was really thinking that this was the school for me, but maybe not if stuff like this keeps happening."

"Yeah, I don't know…I'm starting to think the campus is just too dangerous for me," Dean replied, trying to be inconspicuous while still making sure his voice was audible to the surrounding tables.

"I'm not so sure, guys. Maybe this is just a one-time thing. I wouldn't mind auditing a bit longer," Sam said.

"Yes," Castiel said stiffly. "But Sam, two girls were killed." Dean tried to suppress a laugh. Cas sounded a bit robotic, trying so hard to act natural.

The students were watching them curiously now. One of the girls got up and made her way over to the table. She leaned over, careful to show plenty of cleavage to the three men at the table. Dean noticed Charlie didn't seem to mind getting an eyeful too, though.

"Hey," she said. "We couldn't help but overhear. Are you guys talking about the murders?"

"Yeah," Charlie said. Dean noticed from the corner of his eye that she was working to maintain eye contact with the girl. He could barely take note of that himself though, as he was also pretty distracted by the lacy neckline that was way below the neck on this girl's shirt. The bimbo sat down at the table directly beside Team Free Will's, and her friends hurried over to join her in order to be a part of the gossip.

"It's so weird," said the pretty girl in the low-cut shirt who had first come over to the table. "I didn't know Marion that well or anything, but I talked to her just last night. She told me that she had seen some guy in old lady clothes wandering the campus. I asked her if she wanted me to walk her to her room, because it was kind of late and with that creep around, you know…" she trailed off. "She didn't want me to come, but maybe if I had gone with her…" she sniffled a little.

"Hey, it's not your faul-" Dean and Charlie met eyes as they both spoke at the same time, both reaching out consoling arms in the same motion. They both stopped, dropping their arms and looking away awkwardly.

"A man in old lady's clothes…" Charlie said after a pause. "And she was stabbed in the shower?"

"Yeah, creepy, right?" the girl said.

"What about the other girl, the one who was stabbed by the supposedly disappearing guy in the dorm hall?" Charlie asked.

Team Free Will talked with the kids for a bit longer about the recent tragedies, until it was time for class to start and the students left. Charlie was playing on her phone. Sam was looking up information about past deaths in the area, and Dean and Cas were discussing the college girls.

"They were hot," Dean commented.

"So hot," Cas agreed. "And very nice…"

"Um, guys?" Charlie asked. "About the case…" Dean leaned over her shoulder to see what was on her phone.

"Oh, because what you're looking at is so relevant?" he scoffed. "You're looking at pictures of Michael Meyers."

"Exactly!" Charlie said. Sam, Dean, and Cas all looked at her in bewilderment. Cas tilted his head slightly, and Charlie giggled.

"Oh wow, that's adorable," she said to Cas.

"What?" he asked, looking even more bemused.

"It's just kind of a signature thing in the Edlund books, that really-" she cut herself off. "Not important. Anyway, Michael Meyers! He wears a blue shirt, blue pants, and a white mask."

They got it, then. Castiel normally would have remained confused by the reference, but since they had just watched the movie he nodded along with the Winchesters. It flashed through Dean's mind that Charlie had a good point about the adorable factor of Cas' head tilts. And, he thought, she was a lesbian. So, it didn't necessarily mean anything that he found himself pondering how cute that look of bemusement on the ex-angel's face was.

"Michael Meyers…And now a guy in old lady's clothes…" Dean muttered. "Son of a bitch… I can't believe we didn't see it before."

"Wait, what?" Castiel asked. There was that adorable head tilt, with those wide eyes that were so easy to get lost in…He was looking at Dean, waiting for an answer, but Dean couldn't remember the question. It was Sam who finally answered.

"Someone, or something, is reenacting horror movie deaths."


	4. Good for Cas for getting some Ass

The sky was filled with dark grey clouds looming above them. It was still early in the evening, but it was ominously dark. The city streets were mostly abandoned. Sam and Castiel were pacing the sidewalk, both sipping beers. Dean and Charlie had gone to check out the local strip bar, so it was just the younger Winchester and ex-angel left wandering the blocks surrounding their hotel.

"So, any idea what could be doing this?" Sam asked.

"No," Cas replied. "I've never heard of anything like this before."

"Dean and I once fought a shape shifter who shifted into the shapes of different horror movie monsters. He did Dracula, the mummy…Why am I telling you this? You don't know these movies."

"Do you think this is a shape shifter then?" Cas asked.

"No… That doesn't really explain the whole 'disappearing into thin air thing," Sam replied.

"You and Dean are lucky to have each other," Cas said softly after they had walked in silence for a few moments. "Hunting can be…lonely." It occurred to Sam that Castiel had been alone in the world as a human for a while now. He still couldn't understand why the ex-angel hadn't wanted to stay with him and Dean in the bunker.

"You know, Cas," Sam said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "You can keep working with us after this. You don't have to be alone."

"Thank you Sam," Cas said, but he didn't sound very uplifted.

"Dean is really glad you're on this case, you know?" Sam said. Cas seemed to perk up a little.

"Do you really think so?"

"Of course," Sam said, laughing a little. Those two could drive him crazy sometimes with their unsaid feelings for one another, and the obsession they had with each other. Sam wondered when they would just admit that they were a couple, since they basically were.

Castiel had rescued Dean from Hell. He had rebelled against Heaven for him. The angel had been basically an emotionless tool for the angels, a hammer, before he met Dean and everything changed. For the first time, he had begun to feel. Yet he had disappeared almost as soon as being reunited with the Winchesters after becoming human. The whole situation seemed off to Sam.

"Hey, do you want to get another drink?" Sam asked, nodding towards a bar they were about to pass.

"Why not?" Cas shrugged. "Imbibing copious amounts of alcohol is always fun."

"Yes it is," Sam chuckled as they headed through the door. They sat down at the bar, and each ordered a beer.

"Did Dean tell you that he was glad I was working on this case with you?" Cas asked. Sam did his best to repress a laugh. Wow, they were like twelve year olds with crushes.

"No I can just tell," he replied.

"Oh," Cas said. He sounded so disappointed it almost broke Sam's heart. He patted Castiel's arm.

A girl with reddish brown hair wearing a short orange dress and a black leather jacket headed over to them, and sat down on the stool next to Sam. She was pretty at first glance, but when Sam really looked at her, he noticed she was probably in her fifties at least. She wasn't bad looking or anything, but there was something…off about her. Sam didn't know what it was. He just got the chills looking at her.

"Hi boys," she said. "I'm Julia." Sam was hesitant to reply, trying to figure out how to let this girl down easy.

"Hello, I'm Castiel and this is Sam. You can call him Moose if you want," Cas said, oblivious to the girl's obvious attempt to catch one of their attention with her revealing dress.

"Hi Castiel. Hi Moose," Julia said. She leaned over Sam, careful to brush her chest against him as she whispered in Cas' ear. Sam was desperate to get out of this place.

"That's inappropriate," Castiel replied to whatever Julia said. When she sat back down, she winked at Cas.

"Listen, we really need to be going," Sam said, grabbing Cas' arm. This chick was just creepy.

"But you just ordered beers," she crooned.

"Yes, Sam," Cas said. Was he still totally unaware that Sam was trying his best to escape? Or maybe Cas was into cougars. "We did just order beers." Than he leaned over, and whispered into Sam's ear. "Sam, I think this woman is interested in having sexual intercourse with me. I'm going to do it," he said.

"I'm out of here," Sam said. He hurried out of the bar, leaving Castiel behind. If that was what Cas was into, to each their own. Anyway, the girl really had been rather pretty. Sam couldn't figure out why he got such a bad vibe from her.

There was just something about her that gave him the idea that she was the type of person who had some skeletons in her closet. Hunters spent enough time dealing with the darkest entities in the world to be able to get strong readings from people they met. So, maybe the lady just had baggage. So did Sam, and most people he knew. Sam decided to stop worrying. Good for Cas for getting some ass.


	5. Perdition Raiser

Castiel was getting a very strange feeling from this girl. He couldn't quite place what it was about her that was disturbing him, though, so he decided to ignore it. After all, he had thought that a reaper intent on torturing and eventually killing him was 'nice.' So, maybe he wasn't the best at judging character.

Once they were through the front door, she immediately led him up an ancient looking, steep wooden staircase. They seemed to walk forever until they reached a dusty looking, windowless corridor. It smelled odd.

As an angel, Castiel would have been able to detect every subtle odor in the air. Now it was just a vague mesh of scents that unsettled him as they walked down the hall. It was a mixture of what he thought might be death, and something else…Something…sweet. Was that candy? He missed his angel senses. Still, there were some perks to being human.

After all, there were taste, and touch. Those things were nicer now, because he could appreciate them without being overwhelmed by every subtlety. For instance, when he was lying in bed with Dean, and his friend's fingers were gently pressing on his lap, he was able to simply relax and enjoy it. He didn't have to focus on every unimportant muscle moving in Dean's fingers. He was able to feel without being overwhelmed…Well, most of the time.

Sometimes he was still overwhelmed. Not by any certain sense, but by emotion in general. When he had been part of the garrison, he hadn't exactly been void of emotion, but it hadn't really been a factor in anything he did. That had all changed when he first laid a hand on the soul of the righteous man in Hell.

Castiel had known the soul he was looking for without a doubt when he saw it. Beyond the screams of agony, and the blood, and black smoke, the horrible sobs of broken souls, he had seen Dean's soul, and taken it. Cas wasn't sure that words could ever express how in awe he was of Dean.

It was amazing that any soul could withstand what Dean's had been through and still be so incredibly good, and beautiful. Hell was a disgusting place. The screams were bad, but even worse was the laughter born of depraved sadomasochism. Castiel hated to think that Dean had spent forty years down there. He was indescribably grateful to the luck and power of will it had taken to get them out of there, past the hordes of demons. Cas thought that maybe it was the power of Dean's soul that allowed him that kind of strength.

The instant Castiel had gripped Dean's soul tight and raised it from perdition was when emotion began overruling everything the angel knew. His sister, Hester, had made a good point when she said to Dean "Castiel was lost the moment he first laid a hand on you in Hell." He understood how, as an angel, a soldier with no concept of anything beyond following orders, Hester would see it this way. To him though, it had been more like finding something than being lost. Because instead of fighting blindly as he always had, he had found something to fight for. It had been the beginning of his discovery of the importance of free will. The intensity of the profound bond the two of them forged in Hell was the reason Castiel would never forget that freedom was a cause worth giving his life for.

Dean had taught Cas about freedom, and about humanity. He had taught Cas that there was beauty in humanity. It wasn't so much that Dean believed in the beauty of humanity, though. It was that Cas saw everything good about the human race when he saw Dean. Not his face, or body which were of course beautiful, but his soul. Dean's soul…He couldn't see it now that he was a human, and maybe that was what he missed the most about being an angel. But he could still feel it. He could feel the bond between them resonating in Dean's soul whenever they were together.

Before meeting Dean, he had often thought that the human world could be rather boring. He and the other angels on his garrison had spent so long just watching, never doing anything. But saving the bravest, most honorable, most righteous person Castiel had ever met from a fate of eternal torture in Hell taught Castiel that there was more to humans than could ever be fathomed from simply watching idly.

Being human was harder than he had ever imagined, though. He now understood how difficult life could be, and he was just glad he had the Winchesters as teachers. Julia was still leading Cas down the hall as all of this ran through his mind.

"You're quiet," she commented.

"My apologies," Castiel said. "My people skills are a bit rusty."

"You're fine, sweetie," she said, taking him by the hand, and leading him into a room. He looked around, confused to see that there was nothing really in the room. There was no bed, or sofa, or anything.

"This is an odd room," he commented.

"Why don't you take off your coat?" she asked casually. Cas began to pull off his trench coat when he was distracted by something moving in the corner.

"What was that?" he asked, eyeing the shadow.

"Nothing, just a shadow," Julia said.

"No, it was something," Cas said. He pulled his coat back around him and looked around the room nervously. He had a silver knife with an iron handle and a gun packed with salt rounds as well as some holy water in the inner pockets of his trench coat. Dean had insisted he keep these things with him even when he wasn't planning on a fight.

Julia shrugged, smiling in a very unsettling way. "Oh…You caught me. Oops," she shrugged.

"What?" Cas asked, backing out of the doorway. Someone came out of nowhere appearing in the corner where Cas had been so sure he saw movement. The figure moved into a slightly more lighted area and Castiel gasped. It reminded him of some of the things he had seen in Hell. The thing was a person, but their skin had been peeled away leaving their bright red flesh to ooze from their skin. "What is it?" he asked Julia. She giggled.

"Not 'it,'" she corrected. "'Him.' This is Frank, the love of my life." Castiel cringed as the thing wrapped a bloody, dripping, arm around Julia and kissed her on the head.

"I'm just going to go then," Cas said, still backing away. Julia laughed.

"But we're just getting started," she said, pulling out a long, serrated knife. Cas pulled out the gun with silver bullets, and aimed it had her.

He didn't know what she was, maybe just a human who had been caught up in the supernatural world. If that was the case, a silver bullet to the head would still kill her, and possible buy him time to run. Before she could react to the sight of the gun, Castiel fired it into her skull. She fell backwards into the monstrous thing's arms.

Cas didn't stay to see if he had killed her. He just ran. He was fairly unpracticed in fire arms, so he was just glad he hadn't missed. The hall, which was undoubtedly long seemed endless as he ran away from the horrendous creature which he assumed was probably not far behind him.

He nearly fell down the rickety wood stairs trying to get down them quickly. Castiel didn't even take a breath until he was standing outside of the house. It was dark now, and everyone must have gone to bed because the street was empty and eerily quiet. A black cat scurried across the sidewalk in front of Cas' path, and dove into Julia's neighbor's dumpster. The house was so still on the outside it sent chills down Cas' spine. He hurried back to the hotel room as he dialed Sam's phone number. Before Cas could hit talk, the phone rang, startling him. It was Sam.

"Cas, are you still with Julia?"

"Definitely not," he said. "It turns out I have a way of picking girls that want to kill me."

"What?"

"It's a strange story, I'll explain when I get to the room," Cas said. He could already see the flickering sign of their hotel.

"Well, we just found something you're definitely going to want to see," Sam said. "This case just keeps getting weirder." Cas couldn't agree more.


	6. Charlie and Dean visit a strip club

Charlie leaned back in her seat as Dean slipped a dollar bill into a stripper's G-string. She sipped her beer, watching the girl dancing in front of them and sort of thinking about the case as much as was possible considering what she was seeing. The music blasted and the smell of sweat and alcohol was a bit dizzying. Charlie was enjoying herself, but she was also distracted, thinking of the girls who had been killed.

"I've just never heard of anything like this before…" she mused as the girl walked away, and she and Dean were left alone on the bench they were sitting at. Well, not alone, but everyone surrounding them was understandably preoccupied with things other than listening to Dean and Charlie's conversation.

"I don't know…." Dean said, watching the girl walk away. "Maybe a ghost?"

"A ghost that's a horror buff?" Charlie asked. "It could be, but…I don't know, that just doesn't seem right."

"Yeah, you're right, it doesn't," Dean consented. "A tulpa, maybe?"

"OK, remember, I'm still kind of a," she made quotation marks with her fingers around the next words, "hunter in training."

"It's a kind of monster, or a story or something, that's made real because enough people believe in it. This is Halloween time, so maybe enough people are thinking about these movies to…No, that really doesn't work either does it?" he muttered.

"It really doesn't," Charlie sighed. "Is there anything else you can think of?" Dean was quiet for a few minutes, either thinking or being distracted by their surroundings. Charlie couldn't tell which.

"Not really," he finally admitted. "Charlie, about you being a hunter in training…"

"Don't even start," she sighed. She might have known Dean would try to lecture her as soon as they got away from his moose of a younger brother and trench coat wearing almost boyfriend.

"No, listen," Dean said. "Charlie, I've been in this for a long time now, and trust me, it isn't a life you want. You're smart. You're probably the smartest person I've ever met. You could do anything you wanted, you really could. So, please, after this case, Charlie, just stop. Go meet Mrs. Right, or start your own tech agency, or work for NASA. Hell, do whatever you want. But please don't become a hunter."

"No, you listen, Dean Winchester," Charlie said. "I may not have been in this life for as long as you, and maybe that's exactly why I know that it might not be a life I want, but it's the right life. You said I could do anything I want, right? Well, I want to make sure that other people can meet their Mr., or Mrs. Right, I want to make sure that other people are able to live the lives they dream about. Saving people, hunting things…It's not my family business or anything fancy like that, but I do want to save as many people as I can, and kill as many evil sons of bitches as I can get my hands on."

"Well, you definitely have a hunter's knack for self-sacrifice," Dean muttered. They were both quiet for a few moments, listening to the music, and watching the girls dance. Charlie hoped that her words sunk in with Dean, though she doubted they did. No one could really convince Dean Winchester of anything.

"I have to give it to you though," he finally said. "That has to be the most touching speech anyone's ever made in a strip club like…ever." They both laughed.

"Oh come on, no chick flick moments," Charlie giggled, quoting the Edlund books.

"Hey, you stole my line!" Dean teased, punching her playfully on the shoulder.

"Sorry, I had to," Charlie laughed, shoving his hand away.

"I can't believe you read all of those books," Dean said. "Seriously, why did you?"

"Are you kidding me?" Charlie asked. "Have you met me? I love that kind of stuff. Fighting evil, falling in love, awesome one-liners and pop-culture references…"

"But it's different because it's real, and you know us," Dean retorted. "And what do you mean about falling in love?" Charlie raised her eyebrows at him. Was he screwing with her right now?

"Um, first of all, that doesn't mean it isn't a great story," she said. "It actually makes it so much better. Second of all, Dean, hello? You're part of the ultimate love story, duh. What could be more romantic than literally pulling someone from Hell…Rebelling against the forces of Heaven for them…" she trailed off, seeing the look of total confusion on his face.

"What?" he asked. "Are you talking about C-" he was interrupted by a stripper standing on their table and leaning over them.

"Hello," she said, seductively stroking Dean's chin. She was hot and everything, but Charlie could see that Dean was still distracted by their conversation. He was looking at Charlie, almost as if still waiting for an answer.

"My name 'is Santánico."

"Hi," Charlie said, grinning at the girl. She barely noticed Charlie though, as she stood up and twirled around on the table. She wasn't wearing any shoes, which was kind of a turn off, to Charlie at least. She wouldn't have minded much, but Santánico was really swinging her leg around in the air, showing off her bare toes, which was pretty weird.

She stroked Dean's face with her foot as she danced, and he looked awkwardly at Charlie. She just shrugged. It was kind of funny, in a way. Santánico's foot was pressed against his cheek in a really bizarre caress.

"Um, OK, listen, Santana, I'm not real into the whole foot thing," Dean called up to her.

"It's Santánico," the girl said haughtily. She stopped dancing, and climbed down from the table, now glaring at Dean and Charlie. The two friends exchanged a look. What the hell?

Santánico's pretty face was contorting bizarrely. She was pulling back her lips into an ugly sneer. Dean and Charlie were both utterly confused. Was this chick off her meds or what? They both saw it at the same time. Santánico's curled lips revealed a pair of glistening fangs. She snarled at them.

"Holy shit," Charlie said softly. "Now I understand the whole foot thing." So, their theory about something re-enacting horror flicks was definitely right.

"Do you happen to have a stake on you?" she asked Dean in a high pitched squeak.

"The only way to kill vampires is beheading," Dean replied from the corner of his mouth. "I thought you said you had killed one before?"

"But Dean," she said through her teeth. "I don't think this is a vampire. I think it's the same thing that-" before Charlie could finish, Santánico had listened to enough, and lunged forwards.

She sunk her sharp teeth into Charlie's neck, and Charlie felt herself falling backwards. There was a burning pain in her neck, and her head was spinning a little. Dean moved fast. He caught Charlie, and lay her down on the bench. He grabbed Santánico, and dragged her into a darkened corner. Charlie sat up fast, and clutched her neck with her hand. She wanted to help, but she was swaying a little. Charlie watched from the bench as Dean slammed the vampire, or whatever she was, against the wall and said something harshly.

He was back by Charlie's side in a heartbeat, with one hand under her knee and the other under her neck. She was still holding her own hand to the wound to keep it from bleeding too much.

A few people were looking at them odd, but no one seemed to have seen Charlie being bitten. It looked like everyone just thought that she was drunk, and her friend was taking her home. No…They needed to do something, to warn people…Charlie wanted to say this to Dean, but before she could get a word in, he was reassuring her.

"Don't worry," Dean said. "Believe me. I've seen enough injuries to know this isn't that bad. You're going to be fine, but we need to go." He was laying her down in the back of the Impala before she could protest anymore. She heard the engine start up, and they were moving.

It was a short drive back to the hotel, but the pain in Charlie's neck made it feel like an eternity. Dean helped somewhat by talking as he drove, distracting her. She was grateful for that.

"If that wasn't a vampire, what the Hell was it?" Dean asked.

"I have no idea," Charlie admitted. "But I think whatever it was, is the same thing that's been killing girls at the college. Didn't that whole foot thing mean anything to you?"

"Um, never go to that strip club again?" Dean guessed.

"Well, that too," Charlie allowed. "But, Dean, this thing is re-enacting famous horror movies. Vampire invasion in a strip club, a dirty solo performance featuring some disgusting foot action? It says "Dusk Til Dawn" all over it."

"Oh, isn't that the one where the two brothers are bank robbers?" Dean asked.

"Yeah," Charlie said.

"Son of bitch," Dean muttered. "Now why couldn't we have at least actually seen Salma Hayek?"

"Please don't tell me you would have enjoyed that if that were Salma Hayek," Charlie groaned.

"What? No, of course not!" Dean said. There was a pause. "Well…OK, maybe the strip-dance part of it. Minus the foot thing and you getting bitten…Alright, we're there. I don't want you walking, just stay still." Dean pulled into a parking space in the hotel parking lot.

Dean carried Charlie into the hotel room, and laid her down on one of the beds. Sam was laying there watching some show that looked suspiciously like 'Dr. Sexy M.D.' He jumped up immediately.

"What happened?" he asked. "Charlie, are you OK?"

"Are you watching what I think you're watching…Without me?" Dean asked, looking at the TV. Sam switched the television off quickly.

"Dean, what the hell happened?" Sam asked.

"We were attacked. Where's Cas?"

"He's uh…He went home with some chick, actually," Sam said.

"What? Who? Was she pretty?" Dean asked. As adorable as the jealous tone in Dean's voice was, Charlie was also in pretty serious need of bandaging.

"Um, guys? Hello," she called. Dean hurried into the bathroom, and came back out with a towel which he helped Charlie wrap around her neck. "Please tell me I'm not going to need what you guys consider stitches?"

"Welcome to being a hunter," Dean said. "Sammy, will you go out to the car and get our sewing kit?" Charlie groaned. Sam hurried outside.

"Dean," Charlie said. "This really isn't that serious of an injury. You don't think we could have stayed for another hot minute to see if there was anything else we could figure out about that chick?"

"No," Dean said.

"Well, why not?" Charlie asked.

"Because!" Dean snapped. He stood up and started pacing. "I can't believe I let you get dragged into this. Charlie, I'm so sorry," he said. "I should have never agreed to let you help with this."

"Its fine, Dean," she said. "Seriously, you said yourself that I'm going to be OK."

"Yeah, because we got out of there," he replied. "But what if we hadn't? What if I hadn't been fast enough? That thing wanted to kill you, Charlie. Do you get that?"

"Of course I get it, Dean," she said. "What is it with you? Why can't you ever understand that not everything is your responsibility? I'm not your responsibility. Maybe you need to wake up and focus on yourself for once. For instance, someone who loves you more than anything, who would sacrifice everything for you, is right in front of you and you can't even see it. You're so preoccupied by saving everyone you don't even appreciate the good things in your own life."

"What the Hell do you keep talking about?" Dean snapped. "Cas is not in love with me!"

"And why are you so sure about that?" Charlie retorted.

"Because why would he be?" Dean burst out. There was a moment of silence as they just looked at each other. Charlie supposed she really should have seen that one coming. Because Dean never believed he was worth anything.

"Dean…" she said softly.

"Listen, I just meant…" Dean was clearly struggling with what to say. Charlie almost regretted bringing the subject up. She hated to see that look of pain on Dean's face. "He has so many other things on his mind, so many more important things, why would I even be-"

"Hey guys," Sam said as he walking into the room. He was holding a glass bottle filled with whisky, and the Winchester's trusty first aid kit. "This is going to hurt, Charlie, so get ready." He sat down on the bed beside her, and she noticed he was holding something else as well. It was a DVD.

"What is that?" she asked, eyeing it.

"I found it on your dashboard, Dean," Sam said, holding it up. It had the words 'Watch Me,' in sharpie across it.

"What the hell?" Dean muttered, taking the DVD.  
>"Maybe it's a clue," Charlie suggested. "We should watch it." Dean put the DVD in, and hit play as Sam gently pried Charlie's fingers away from her neck injury.<p>

Charlie gasped in pain as Sam dumped a bit of the whiskey onto her neck. There was another moment of searing pain as Sam stuck the needle into her skin. She clenched her teeth hard as he sewed. The TV was at least a distraction, even if what it was showing was really, really, fucking weird.

It started out as just static on the screen. After a few seconds, a white circle formed. Then there was more static. Suddenly a chair in an empty room was being shown. Some white lines flickered down the screen, and suddenly they were watching a woman in a round picture frame hung on a wall brushing her hair. After a few seconds of this, a different frame was shown on the same wall, now with a super creepy kid standing in it. A man looking out a window, a beach on a stormy day, some horrible creature vomiting what looked almost like white light, a tree on fire…

Charlie could barely think with Sam's sewing needle dipping in and out of her neck, but she was positive she had seen this tape before. Then it hit her. She couldn't believe the very beginning hadn't given it away.

"Oh my Merlin," she said. Even now, she couldn't resist using a character as an exclamation. "I've seen this tape before."

"Yeah, I think I have too," Sam mused. "I just can't figure out where."

"Are you serious, Sam?" Dean said. "Do you know nothing of your cultural heritage, you heathen?"

"What?" Sam asked.

"It's the tape from 'The Ring!'" Dean and Charlie said at the same time. They exchanged a grin. So, Charlie guessed they were dropping their earlier conversation. Still, their smiles quickly faded.

"Are we going to die in seven days, guys?" Charlie asked. She wasn't exactly reassured when neither Winchester answered.

"We need to call Cas," Dean said. "He should see this. He can't still be with that chick."

"Um, or we could just show him in the morning?" Sam said. "Dean the poor guy only just started having sex after all this time."

"No," Charlie said, quickly jumping in to help Dean out. "Come on, Sam, this is important. Everyone in this room is important. I really think that Cas can drop whatever else is on his mind right now, and come back to what we all know really matters to him."


	7. G(a)uys Interrupted

"So was this Julia chick at least pretty?" Dean persisted. He must have asked the same question at least five times now in different ways. He knew that, but he couldn't seem to drop it. There was nagging feeling of anger that bugged him when he thought about his angel, or former angel, whatever, going home with some broad he met at a bar.

"Dean, give it a rest, will you?" Sam sighed, lying back into his pillows. Charlie was beside him, sitting up and sipping a mug of tea. Dean and Cas were in their bed, both huddled under the blankets because of the chill in the air, let in by that stupid window. "She was obviously not a regular person."

"That doesn't answer-"

"Dean!" Sam sighed. "Do you think Claire Higgins is hot?"

"What?" Dean asked. Usually he was the one randomly bringing up actresses he thought were hot. It was out of character for Sam.

"The chick from the movie 'Hellraiser,'" Sam explained. "You remember how she would lure guys to her house where she would basically feed them to her dead lover, Frank?"

"Sure," Dean said.

"Well, that's who this was. I mean, not really her, as in Claire Higgins, but she looked a little like that."

"Oh," Dean said. There was a moment of quiet. "Cas what were you thinking going home with some random crazy chick? Seriously, with everything that's been going on, you didn't think that maybe, just maybe, we should all stick together?"

"Dean, I'm sorry I just-" Sam interrupted before Castiel could finish what Dean was sure would have been a lame excuse anyway.

"I think the bigger question is, how is it possible that you and Charlie were attacked by the Salma Hayek wannabe at the same time that Cas was with this Julia chick?"

"Hold on a second, you said Cas was with her. Cas, please tell me you didn't sleep with-"

"That's not the point, Dean!" Sam said, frustrated.

"Look, I just need to…I just need to get some air," Dean said. He climbed out of bed, and stormed out the door.

"What was that all about?" Sam asked Charlie and Cas.

"I'll go talk to him," Cas said. Dean hurried down the hall, pretending not to have heard. He wasn't honestly completely sure why he was so upset.

Maybe it had to do with what Charlie had tried to tell him earlier. So he was important, was he? He didn't feel like it.

Dean hurried out of the front door and made his way to the Impala. He climbed into the driver's seat, and turned the key. His baby's engine rumbling to life made him feel a bit better.

He shifted through his pile of cassette tapes in the glove compartment. He stuck one in at random, and hit play. The song 'Something' by 'The Beatles' began to play. He leaned back and closed his eyes.

The side door of the Impala opened, and Castiel climbed in. Dean glanced at him, and then continued to stare straight ahead, listening to the music. He sighed. One of them was going to have to say something eventually.

"I'm sorry I overreacted," Dean said finally. "It's just…We're all we have, Cas. Team Free Will. If anyone ever hurt you, if anything ever happened, I don't know what I'd-" he was looking at Cas intensely now. He couldn't finish. They were doing that thing that they often did, where they just sort of stared into each other's eyes. This lasted for several minutes. Cas' face was so perfect. Dean felt like he could stare at it for an eternity.

It was more than that, though. It was so much more than that. Ever since he had been rescued from Hell, Dean had felt the power of their profound bond whenever they were together, or he was praying to Cas, or even when he was just thinking of him. It didn't even weaken when Cas turned human, either.

He would never forget the moment he had thought his friend was dead, that April the reaper bitch had killed him. He remembered holding Cas' face in his hands, and begging for him to answer. Their bond was so much more than anything Dean could understand. Maybe it was more than either of them could fully understand. They could feel it though. Even though the hand mark on Dean's shoulder had faded, the mark Cas had left on his soul probably never would. When Cas broke the silence, neither of them broke eye contact.

"Dean, I'm so sorry. I was being selfish, and…I…I'm sorry."

"It's OK," Dean said. Their faces were so close together, their lips were only inches apart. With just anyone, Dean probably would have leaned forward and broken the distance without hesitation. Cas wasn't just anyone, though.

"Castiel…"

"What?"

"You know how much you mean to me, right?"

"I um, I think so," Cas said. "And, obviously, you know how much you mean to me."

"I uh…Yeah, I think so," Dean said.

"Damn it, Dean," Cas said. "Do I need to remind you that I rescued you from Hell? Or that I rebelled against heaven for you?"

"It doesn't hurt," Dean said. They both laughed a little at that.

"Shall we go back inside now?" Cas asked. Dean agreed, turning off the music and taking the keys out of the ignition. When they climbed out of the car, Dean stopped Cas in front of the hood. He wrapped his arms around his friend's shoulders, and squeezed. For a moment, the former angel just stood there stiffly. Then he wrapped his arms around the hunter and squeezed back. Their bodies pressed against each other and Dean found himself against the Impala's hood as Cas leaned into him.

They broke apart, and walked across the dark parking lot together. The autumn leaves swirled around their ankles. Neither of them felt the need to hurry. Dean reached next to him, and took Cas' hand in his own.

"Maybe we don't have to go up quite yet," he said, sitting down on a bench outside of the hotel. Cas sat down beside him. They let go of each other's hands. Dean reached up, and touched Cas' flawless cheek. He leaned forwards, his lips slightly parted…

"Hey, aren't you the guys that were auditing?" a voice called. Dean and Cas both jumped, scooting away from each other a little. "Oh, sorry, I wasn't trying to um, interrupt anything," said the college aged girl who was walking towards them.

"You weren't interrupting anything," Dean said hastily. He leaned forwards, folding his hands in his lap. He hoped what he was doing wasn't too obvious, but it was better than not hiding anything. Then she would know she was interrupting something, instead of just guessing.

"Right," she said, noting his hands in his lap. Dean cursed inwardly.

"What are you doing here?" Cas asked her.

"Oh, it's stupid…My boyfriend and I just had a fight. He kept talking about seeing some freaky girl in a torn dress with hair in her face reflected in the TV. I mean, I'm sure he's just screwing with me because it's close to Halloween, but he knows how much the movie 'The Ring' scares me. I freaked out and left. Anyway, I'll just go to my room, and let you guys uh….Do whatever it was that I was not interrupting." Dean and Cas exchanged a meaningful look, and both stood up. The only good thing about the news the girl had shared was that Dean no longer had to hide his lap. He was all business now.

"Did you recently happen to find a tape that said 'Watch Me,' on it, and oh, I don't know, watch it?" Dean asked.

"Yeah, actually, I did," she said. "It was the tape from 'The Ring.' I can't believe him…"

"Where do you live?" Cas asked.

"What?" the girl sputtered. They didn't have time for this. Dean grabbed the girl's shoulders, and got in her face.

"Tell us!" he said urgently.

"Ugh, fine!" she pushed Dean off of her. "Freak." She gave them some brief directions.

They hurried up the stairs to the room to tell Charlie and Sam. This was getting to make less and less sense. Dean had no idea what the hell could be doing this. Whatever it was, it was a tricky bastard.

They were going to come face to face with one of the creepiest kids in horror movie history with no idea how to defeat it. Dean cursed as they ran upstairs. "Son of a BITCH!"


	8. Right in the nuts

Sam and Charlie watched as the little kids on the TV screen danced around, singing about kidnapping Santa Clause. Jack Skeleton had just instructed them to bring Santa to them so that he could have his own Christmas. Sam remembered watching this movie with Dean as a kid, and being a little scared of this part. His older brother had wrapped his arm around Sam, and told him that it was going to be alright, Santa wasn't going to get hurt. Still, Sam had worried about the jolly old guy. The idea of chopping Santa into bits, or locking him into a box was unsettling. Sam had been soothed by his big brother about that part of the movie. Admittedly, Lock Stock and Barrel didn't bother him as much as the clown with the tear away face, which still gave him the creeps.

Sam remembered that when they were watching this as kids, Dean had asked Sam if he wanted to turn off the movie, and Sam had insisted on leaving it on…although he was more than accepting of his big brother's suggestion that they fast forwards through all of the parts with the clown with the tear-away face. Actually, he still fast forwarded through those parts. Dean had always been there for him. He had always comforted Sam when he was scared, even if it was just of a kid's movie. Sam wanted to be there for Dean now. He wanted to tell his brother that everything was going to be OK.

"Seriously, what the hell was that about?" Sam asked Charlie.

"I think we both know," she said.

"Kind of," Sam admitted. "I just wish…I just wish I could be there for him more. But Dean's never been one to overshare his feelings," Sam sighed.

"He definitely does not like chick flick moments," Charlie agreed. Sam nodded. The phrase reminded him of a simpler time, like when Dean had first said that to him. He and Dean had been in yet another hotel room, and Dean was covered in mud after an incident with a lady in white. Thinking of it still amused Sam. Now everything was so complicated. Dean was keeping something from him, something that had to do with why Cas had left. Angels and demons were at war. Everything was so messy.

The door swung open, and Dean and Cas burst in. They were both slightly out of breath, so they must have run up the stairs. Sam and Charlie exchanged a glance.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked. She stood up quickly, almost spilling her tea. Sam hurriedly put the mug on the nightstand for her.

"What is it guys?" Sam asked.

"We met this girl outside," Dean said. "She says her boyfriend has been seeing the creepy chick from 'The Ring' reflected on their TV. We need to get there NOW."

"Right," Sam agreed. He and Charlie started heading for the door. Dean grabbed Charlie's arm.

"Are you sure you're up for this?" he asked.

"I told you," she said. "Dean I want to kill this thing."

"We don't even know what it is."

"But we need to go, someone is in danger," Charlie said. "We don't have time to argue, Dean, let's go." Sam could tell his big brother wanted to argue anyway, but also understood that Charlie made a good point. They needed to get to this guy.

The four friends hurried outside to the Impala, and Dean revved up the engine. The car screeched out of the parking lot before everyone had finished buckling in. Sam saw that Dean kept his foot pressed against the gas hard as he presumably followed the directions the girl had given him, and cursed loudly when they hit a red light. He wanted to tell Dean to calm down, but he was a little worried his big brother would blow a fuse if he did.

"Damn it!" Dean yelled. "Come on!" The older Winchester slammed his hand down on the horn, and left it pressed until the light changed colors. Finally, they reached the apartment they needed to get to, and pulled in. They all got out, and ran towards the front door, which turned out to require a code.

"We don't have time for this," Dean muttered, preparing to kick in the glass. Charlie put an arm in front of him.

"Hold on a sec there stud," she said. She leaned forward and cracked the code in about two seconds. They all hurried into the door, and stopped at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the guy's apartment.

"So…What's our cover story?" Charlie asked Dean.

"Yeah, what is our cover story?" Dean repeated, turning to Sam, who shrugged. Sense when was coming up with a cover story his job? He turned to Cas.

"Cas what's our c-"

"Oh come on, you're the hunters!" Cas said. "You're supposed to be good at this."

"Right," Sam muttered. "Uh…"

"We said we were auditing at the college, so maybe….We're asking around about what it's like?"

"Is it customary to ask that kind of thing in the middle of the night?" Cas inquired.

"You got a better idea?" Sam asked. No one answered, so he supposed they were going with his admittedly shady story. They all ran up the stairs. The girl must have given Dean and Cas the apartment number, because they immediately started banging on one of the doors. Sam and Charlie stood behind them, waiting.

Dean prepared to kick down the door again, but Cas put an arm in front of him. Sam raised his eyebrows. What was the ex-angel doing?

"What?" Dean snapped.

"It's just…I've been watching you do this for years now, and it looks so…I'm not sure what the word I'm looking for here is, um-"

"Badass?" Dean interjected.

"Yes, that's it," Cas nodded. Dean backed away as Cas made a big show of preparing to kick the door. He put one foot far behind the other, and Sam couldn't help but be impressed by how flexible he was. He noticed that Dean looked pretty impressed too, maybe a little, or a lot, more so than Sam did. After all, Sam had never looked at Cas as anything but a friend. The way Dean was looking at Cas was not the way someone would ever look at a friend.

Sam didn't really think that Cas would be able to kick down the door. He was sure that Dean would end up having to do it. What happened was so much worse.

The door opened just as Cas' foot was swinging forwards. The guy behind the door was in his mid-twenties, with shaggy hair, a grateful dead sweatshirt, and plaid pajama pants that provided no protection from Cas' foot. He groaned, falling backwards.

"Oh man, right in the nuts!" he yelled. Sam couldn't help it. He burst it into chuckles. Charlie tried to resist for a moment before joining in. Dean didn't even try to hide the bouts of laughter that were escaping him. He clutched his stomach. Sam had never seen Castiel look so humiliated. He leaned forward to the college kid, reaching out a hand which the man took. Cas helped him up.

"I am so sorry," Cas said. "I did not mean to do that." The man stood up slowly, grimacing.

"What the hell did you mean to do?" he asked. He had a hoarse, slow, voice.

"I uh…I was trying to kick your door in because I thought that an evil entity disguised as the woman from a movie called 'The Ring' was going to kill you."

"Damn it Cas!" Dean snapped. "No, he's totally kidding," Dean said to the guy. We're uh, we're auditing at the school and we just wanted to see what some of the students thought of it." The guy was still watching Cas curiously. He laughed a little.

"Dude," he said. "Whatever he's on," he gestured to Castiel, "I'll have some."

"Listen, sorry about your, uh, your nuts," Dean said awkwardly. "Do you think we could come in?

"Yeah Dude," the guy said. "Come on in. My name is Thomas Richards. You can call me Rick. Or Rickster. It's whatever, man." They all followed him inside where they sat down on bean bags. There were posters for classic rock bands and horror movies plastering the walls. There was a pile of candy wrappers, some incense, and a pipe on the table in the middle of the room. Rick's apartment smelled vaguely of marijuana and something sweet. Candy?

"So, your girlfriend says you've been seeing the girl from 'The Ring,'" Sam said. "What's up with that?"

"Ok, listen man, I swear I'm not crazy," he said. Sam and Dean exchanged a look. If they had a dollar for every time someone said that to them…

"OK," Sam said. "Tell us what happened." The guy explained that he and his girlfriend had found a DVD labeled "Watch Me" in their room one day. Naturally, they had watched it. Of course, it turned out that it was the same tape from the movie 'The Ring.' His girlfriend had accused him of leaving the recording lying around just to mess with her, but he insisted that he hadn't, although he did admit that it would have been a funny trick.

"So anyway," the guy said. "I really did think I saw that crazy chick reflected in the TV. It was probably nothing, but she freaked out."

"So let me get this straight," Sam said. "You're not freaked out at all by this?"

"Not really Man," the guy shrugged. "It's probably nothing."

"Hey, man," Dean said. "Do you think we could crash here?"

"Sure," the guy said. "I have a couple ounces of green here we could share." Team Free Will exchanged looks. Castiel tilted his head to the side, looking utterly lost. He was the first one to break the awkward silence.

"A couple of ounces of green what?"


	9. Reefer Destiel Madness

"What are we doing?" Cas whispered in Dean's ear. Dean tried to shrug the ex-angel off. The stoner dude, Ricky or whatever the hell his name was, had gone to get his bong. Castiel was terrible at whispering. He leaned way too close, so close that his lips brushed against Dean's ear, and he lingered way too long. Besides, he was so loud he may as well have been talking at full volume.

"OK, first of all, we've talked about this," Dean sighed. Cas tilted his head in question, still standing so close that their faces were almost touching. "Cas, personal space, buddy." Castiel moved to stand beside Dean instead of in front of them. Their shoulders were touching, but Dean let it go. It wasn't like it really bothered him. "Second of all," he continued. "We're trying to protect this guy. We obviously can't leave him here alone."

"Well, as fun as it sounds, we cannot get high," Charlie interjected.

"Agreed," Sam said. "But how are we going to tell that to Mr. Cheech and or Chong in there?" he nodded towards the hall where Rich had disappeared. "He clearly is letting us stay here so that we'll get roasted with him."

"Maybe some of us are going to have to get high," Dean said.

"What?" Sam asked.

"Well, we can't all be fried when and if crazy ring chick shows up. We can't all turn down stuck in the sixties in there either though," Dean explained. Sammy was looking at him meaningfully. It took him a minute, but Dean realized what his little brother was aiming at when he held out his palm and fist. Dean sighed, doing the same. Of course, Sam won, as usual. Sammy always won rock paper scissors. Dean couldn't help it. He always picked rock. He just didn't understand how paper could possibly beat rock.

"Ha. Have fun lighting up," Sam chuckled. "When was the last time you got high anyway? When you ate that turducken sandwich?"

"Ah shut up, I-" Dean stopped a minute, giving Sam an odd look. "Wait…You won. You're going to be the one "lighting up,"" Dean made quotation marks with his fingers around the last two words.

"I don't understand why anyone should have to be caught on fire," Cas said, concerned. He put a hand on Dean's shoulder. "You aren't going to light yourself on fire, are you?" Dean rolled his eyes.

"No, Cas," he sighed. Cas didn't remove his hand. Dean thought about saying something. It was one thing, hidden under the covers, or when they were alone, but what the hell was Cas doing? Why was he ignoring personal space even more than usual? Or maybe Dean was just paranoid because of the odd moment they'd had in the parking lot earlier that night. Maybe Cas always acted this way.

"Wait, Dean," Sam said, looking a little shocked. "You think I was trying to win so that I could get high? No. That stuff kills your brain cells."

"Alright Einstein, I'll do it then," Dean said.

"Yeah, I'm actually with Sam on this one," Charlie said. She tapped her skull with her pointer. "These babies are precious. So, looks like it's you two," Charlie nodded at Dean and Cas.

"Reefer Destiel Madness," Charlie giggled.

"Um…Reefer what madness?" Dean asked. Rick returned, carrying a giant, pale green bong. He grinned hugely.

"This is going to kick ass, man," he said. "You guys seem so chill."

"Yeah, speaking of which, my uh, brother and our other friend here are cool and everything, but they don't smoke," Dean said. He swung an arm around Castiel.

"Me and him, though, we're in."

"Alright, that's cool," Rick said. He set up the bong in the middle of the floor, and took a huge hit. Rick, Dean, and Cas all sat around on bean bags around the bong. Dean hadn't smoked weed in high school. He was too busy with hunting now to even think about it. He coughed a little as he blew out. When Cas took a hit, Dean and Rick were both in tears laughing as the former angel struggled. He coughed uncontrollably, gagging and making disgusted faces.

After they had smoked for a little bit, Rick put away the bong. Dean was feeling very odd, light headed. Of course he was, he wasn't at all used to being stoned. Castiel was sitting so close to him…Sam and Charlie were on the sofa, talking and laughing. Rick went into the kitchen to order some pizza. Team Free Will could hear him, and he was struggling, asking the same questions about price again and again. He kept reminding the guy to put cheese on it.

"Dean," Cas said, leaning across the bean bags towards Dean. Something about the way the ex-angel leaned was so funny that Dean found himself unable to breath for laughing.

"Yeah buddy?" he asked.

"I um…I…I forget." They both chuckled at that. Sam and Charlie were laughing at them from the sofa. "Oh," Cas said. "I remember now."

"Cas, I can barely hear you," Dean said. Just sit in this bean bag." Dean patted his own bean bag, where there was room if they squished. It wasn't true that he was having trouble hearing. He could hear every word his friend was saying. He was just having trouble focusing. He kept getting lost in all of the different shades of blue in Castiel's eyes. It was like a crazy vortex of blue. Like a black hole…except blue. He was staring into eternity in his best friend's eyes, and it was beautiful. Dean shook his head a little, realizing that he was staring. He quickly forgot though, and continued gazing into the ex-angel's eyes. Castiel scooted over without ever really getting up, sitting down in the bean bag with Dean so that they were pressed close together.

"Aww," Charlie giggled. "Aren't they adorable?" she said to Sam, who just smirked. Dean chose to ignore them. Dean noticed that Charlie didn't seem to be being facetious though. Then he was amazed with himself for thinking of a word like 'facetious' He laughed out loud, even though he hadn't said it out loud and no one would know what he was thinking of.

"What were you going to say?" Dean asked Castiel.

"I um…I forget again." They both burst into laughter again. "Oh wait, I remember," Cas said. "Dean, the pizza man isn't going to come, is he? I mean, because that would be just…awkward."

"Of course the pizza man is going to come, how do you think we're going to…Oh," Dean stopped himself, suddenly realizing who the pizza man was to Castiel. "No, not that kind of pizza man," he assured his friend. Charlie and Sam were both laughing at them.

"Good," Cas nodded. "It's not that I didn't learn a lot from him, I just-"

"I get you," Dean interrupted, having heard enough. He started laughing a second later though, as he thought about the stupid pizza man. He'd almost forgotten about that.

"Dean, I'm tired," Cas yawned. Rick was still on the phone, struggling to understand whether or not pickles were a topping option on the pizza. "You know, I never dreamed until I became a human," he said. "Dreams are an odd thing."

"They sure are," Dean agreed. Cas leaned back in the bean bag they were now sharing, his head resting on Dean's shoulder. Dean readjusted his friend's trench-coat, making sure that it was comfortable. Cas smiled a little.

"What would I do without you, Dean?" Cas asked. "You know that you're everything to me, right?"

"You're high," Dean chuckled.

"I mean it, Dean," Cas insisted. "You're everything I have. You mean more to me than anything in the universe." Dean didn't know how to respond to that, so he just wrapped his arm around his best friend.

Dean felt oddly sober all of a sudden, but not in a bad way. He felt as if something was utterly clear that never had been before. He was just getting ready to answer Castiel, although he had no idea what he was going to say, when he looked down to see that those beautiful blue eyes were shut. He smiled a little, and relaxed into the bean bag himself. Dean couldn't stop repeating those words in his mind. 'You mean more to me than anything in the universe.'


	10. A Nightmare on Wolf-verine

Castiel felt more comfortable leaning against his best friend then he could ever have imagined feeling as an angel. Relaxation was one of those nice things about being human. He was sort of half awake, half asleep. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily, which didn't change when he felt Dean shift to lean over so that his lips were at Cas' ear.

"I feel the same, buddy," Dean whispered. He was much better at whispering than Cas was. It was so quiet that Castiel was sure that if anyone else was still in the room, which he wasn't sure if they were or not, they wouldn't be able to hear. "You and Sammy mean the world to me."

Cas drifted thinking about what Dean had said. Was it true? It had always been hard to tell whether Dean felt the same way as Cas did. It had to be true. Why else would the hunter have said it?

Cas found himself wandering through what appeared to be a hallway surrounded by lockers. That was odd. This had to be a dream.

The former angel wasn't completely used to dreams yet. They always sort of through him off, and at first he was never certain whether or not they were dreams. Some of them were pleasant, like one he remembered when he and Dean had…Well, they'd done some things that even Cas had enough people skills to know he should never mention his friend.

Other dreams were not so nice. He dreamed of hunger, and pain, things he had recently learned to dread. He sometimes dreamed of Metatron, or Naomi, and occasionally even Raphael. Then there was the very worst one. It was rarely exactly the same, but it had the same sickening result. It was his worst nightmare. He sometimes dreamed of Dean dying. Sometimes it was Naomi, sometimes Metatron, sometimes just a regular hunt like the one they were working now. Or sometimes it was even something ordinary that Cas knew would never be able to actually hurt someone like Dean Winchester, like getting hit by a car, tripping in the shower, electrocution, a dog attack, or choking on food. He cringed to even think about it. He couldn't imagine anything more painful than losing Dean.

This dream didn't make any sense. What could he be doing in what seemed to be an empty, and sort of dark school? Cas had never been in a school, but he had seen them portrayed in what little television he watched. There were lockers, and occasionally doors to classrooms.

From what Castiel was able to gather so far, dreams were usually made from daytime thoughts. He dreamed of things that he had been thinking about, hoping for, or fearing. So why would he be thinking about a school? Had anyone been talking about that before he fell asleep? He didn't think so. Maybe it was because they were auditing at a college…No, that didn't make sense. This didn't look like a college.

Cas noticed that in many of the classrooms, which had windows on the doors that he could see through, there were drawings done in crayon. The walls in the hall were draped with the occasional inspirational poster with cartoons, kittens, or puppies. He felt oddly unnerved, despite knowing that it was only a dream, and besides, nothing too malevolent seemed to be happening. Or was it? Something was happening….Castiel could hear an eerie echo from somewhere far ahead.

"One two, Freddy's coming for you." He looked around, but the hall appeared to be empty. Besides, the voice was far away. "Three four, you better lock your door…" The last of the comfort Cas had felt falling asleep cuddled against his hunter vanished. He felt a chill run up his spine. Something wasn't right. He didn't have a lot of experience with dreams, but this didn't really feel like a dream. It was as if he were actually in this strange place.

"Hello?" Cas called cautiously.

"Five six, grab your crucifix," the voice chimed. Castiel was hurrying forward. That was a child's voice, and he sensed that they were in danger. He was no longer sure if this was a dream, but either way he knew that he had to get to the kid before this 'Freddy' did.

"Where are you?" Castiel yelled down the hall.

"Seven eight, better stay up late…"

"What?"

"Nine ten; never sleep again!" the child suddenly sounded much closer. He looked around, but didn't see anything. He realized that there was a light tapping noise coming from inside of one of the classrooms, though. Cas looked inside of the window to see that it was a little girl, jump roping in the middle of an empty classroom. She smiled widely at him, and he backed away. Something definitely was not right.

There was an awful sound from down the hall. It was a loud, squeaking noise which grated at Castiel's newly human ears. He shuddered as he turned around. A man in a red and green striped sweater and what looked like a cowboy had was coming down the hall with his head tipped forward, hiding his face.

The man had long, knives protruding from his sleeves, and he was running them along the metal lockers. That was where the horrible noise had come from. The man was getting closer. Cas' instinct was to run, of course, but he thought of the little girl in the classroom and remained planted in front of the door, carefully avoiding looking in.

The man was getting closer. He was only a few lockers away. Cas reached in his trench coat, feeling around for his angel blade. It wasn't there. Of course not. This was clearly a nightmare. The man looked up, and Cas gasped. It was horrible.

His face was burned away so that all that was left was red and white blisters, and boiled looking flesh. Cas felt sick. The man saw Castiel's horror, and laughed wickedly, rubbing his knives together menacingly. Cas could see now that the knives were actually this man's hands.

"Hello, Castiel," the man hissed. "My name is Freddy Krueger." Freddy took another step forward. Castiel would have run, but he still had that odd notion that this wasn't an ordinary dream, and he couldn't just leave the kid in the classroom, even if he had no weapon, no way of protecting himself, let alone her.

There was something weirdly familiar about this man's hands. They reminded Castiel of something…He suddenly remembered what, and was more confused than ever.

"Hey!" he yelled. "I know who you are. You're that wolf guy." Freddy stopped. He narrowed his wicked eyes.

"Who?"

"The one Sam and Dean sometimes talk about," Cas muttered, wracking his brain for a name. "What's his name? Oh!" he remembered suddenly. "Wolf-verine!" He paused. "Aren't you supposed to be a super hero?"

"Wolf-verine?" Freddy snarled. "Are you talking about wolverine?" Freddy groaned softly, shaking his head. "Why are people always getting me mixed up with him?"

"So I uh, I take it you're not him?" Cas asked, his heart sinking. He had been hopeful, for a second, that maybe this horrific figure was actually benevolent. He should have known better. Since when was anything ever what he hoped for?

"What do you think?" Freddy snapped, slashing his sharp fingers at Castiel, and tearing a slit in the side of his trench coat.

"Hey!" Cas snapped. "You ass-butt! This is my favorite coat! I mean it's my only coat, but still." His anger allowed him to overcome his nervousness for a moment, and he remembered something important from earlier.

He remembered when he had been trying to kick the door down, and it had opened as his foot flew forward. He didn't make such a show of preparing for the kick this time. He just let his leg fly forward, and felt his toe collide with Freddy's crotch. Cas put all of his weight into it, knocking Freddy to the ground.

"Ass-but?" Freddy moaned, standing back up, clutching between his legs, and grimacing. "Is that the best you can do, fairy?" He swung one of his knife covered hands at Cas' face, but the ex-angel dodged.

"Fairy? That doesn't make any sense. I used to be an angel, actually, which is very different from being a fairy. For instance, if you drop sugar in front of a fairy, they have to count every grain. I'm glad to say, I would not have to do th-" he was interrupted as Freddy slammed him against a locker, his knives digging into Cas' wrists, pinning him.

Some else was calling out…Cas could hear a distant voice saying his name. He was too distracted by the pain in his wrists, and the awful, melted, face much too close to his own to wonder too much. But the voice was saying his name. It sounded like Sam…

"That isn't why I said it, you idiot," Freddy growled. Cas slammed his knee forward, and Freddy was thrown to the floor again.

"Then why?" Cas asked. "It's kind of an odd insult, really."

"Cas!" it was Dean's voice now. Cas felt hands on his shoulders, shaking him. He was jerked awake, out of the school hallway.

"What the…" he muttered. He was lying on a bean bag, and Dean's hands were on his face, slapping him lightly. He shoved the hunter's hands away, sitting up.

Sam, Charlie, and Rick were all standing around them. Cas rubbed his eyes. He was back in Rick's apartment, where the smell of marijuana and pizza brought him slowly back to reality. The school, and Freddy Krueger, had been nothing but a dream.

"Cas, what happened to your coat?" Sam asked. Cas looked down to see that there was a tear in the side of his trench coat. Dean kneeled down, and took one of Cas' hands gently in his own, examining it.

"And what happened to your wrists?" Dean asked.

"I had a dream that I was in a school and that wolf guy you guys," he nodded at the Winchesters, "have told me about was coming after this little girl. Except, he didn't call himself Wolf-verine. He said his name was Freddy Krueger."

"Freddy Krueger?" Rick chuckled. "Dude, have you not seen 'Nightmare on Elm Street?' Do you live under a rock or what?"

"Of course I do not live under a rock," Castiel said, tilting his head at Rick. What an odd question. "And please tell me that isn't another horror movie."

"It is," Charlie said, shaking her head at Cas.

"Awesome," Dean muttered, standing back up. They all gasped as they looked at the TV behind him. Dean turned around slowly.

The television was on, and it was showing a well in an empty field. A pale hand reached slowly out of the well, and pulled up a pale, bony woman. She wore a ragged, torn dress. Her long black hair hung wildly in her face. She swung one skeletal leg out of the well after another. The girl started making her way towards them slowly. She was getting close to the screen, too close. Everyone gulped as the horrifying woman stretched out a leg, and slipped it out of the television screen, and into the room, splashing icy, greyish water onto all of them.


	11. I'd do anything for you

Everyone was frozen watching the horrific figure climbing out of the television. Once she was standing, she lurched towards Team Free Will and Rick, dripping the water from the well all over the floor. Dean was standing closest to the television, so she was closest to him when she lunged forwards, spider walking but moving incredibly fast. Dean cringed at her flaky, bluish face, and those dead, evil eyes.

Castiel tackled Dean to the ground, sending the evil chick flying over them. The former angel was pressed on top of the hunter, their faces not even an inch apart. Both were breathing heavily. Cas' hands were on either side of Dean's shoulders. Their legs were slightly tangled, Cas' on either side of Dean's hips.

"Thanks," Dean managed.

"No problem," Cas breathed. They stared at each other for a moment. Then Cas climbed off of Dean, and helped him up. Dean pulled the demon knife he'd gotten from Ruby out from under his jacket, and Cas pulled out his angel blade from beneath his trench coat.

Sam had pulled out a silver knife he must have brought, and Charlie was waving an iron dagger she must have been keeping on her. Rick was crying in a corner, eating a piece of pizza.

The crazy bitch from the TV, Dean thought her name was Samara if he remembered right, was lurching towards Rick. Dean rushed at her. He stabbed her in the back with the demon knife.

He pulled the knife out, backing away slowly. The chick just turned a little, hissed at him, and returned to prowling towards Rick. The knife seemed to have almost no effect on this bitch.

"Sammy, Charlie, you're the nerds," Dean yelled, panicking. "How the hell did they kill this chick in the movie?"

"Um, she has aquaphobia," Charlie squeaked.

"What?" Dean asked.

"A fear of water," Sam explained. "Bet you're thinking those brain cells you didn't mind losing would come in handy now, huh Dean?"

"Not now, Sammy!" Dean snapped.

"Right, water!" Sam said. He rushed past Samara and Rick into the kitchen. Meanwhile, crazy ring chick was wrapping her slimy fingers around Rick's throat.

"Hurry!" Dean called. Sam ran back into the room, carrying a glass of water, which he poured onto Samara. She was already drenched from the well, but the new water clearly had an effect on her. She cringed away, curling back her lips. Sam, Dean, Cas, and Charlie hurried into the kitchen for more water.

When they returned carrying glasses of Water, Samara was already backing away from Rick. Team Free Will all froze. Rick was lying against the wall, a look of horror frozen on his face. He wasn't moving. He wasn't even breathing.

"No!" Dean cried, hurrying over to the guy. He slapped Rick. Nothing happened. He checked for a pulse on the wrist, already knowing there would be none, but still feeling his heart sink when his fear was confirmed.

"Dean, we need to get out of here now," Sam said. Samara was spider walking towards Dean now. He stood up, and hurried over to his friends. He didn't want to leave, but he didn't know what else to do.

"We can't, Sammy, we have to-" he couldn't finish. Castiel grabbed him by the arm, and was dragging him towards the door. "We have to-" Dean tried again. Sam and Charlie hurried out the door, and Cas followed, pulling Dean along. Dean didn't resist very hard once they were out the door. Rick was gone, and they had no idea how to kill Samara.

Team Free Will ran down the apartment hall, and down the steps. Although Sam and Charlie had been the first to leave the apartment, they couldn't completely keep up with Castiel who was practically dragging Dean by the elbow.

"Cas, I can walk!" Dean snapped, trying to pull his arm away. It was a failed effort. Cas yanked him outside of the apartment faster than Dean had known the ex-angel could move. Sam and Charlie hurried out after them, and they all climbed into the Impala. Cas shoved Dean into the backseat. "I don't even get to drive my own car?" Dean complained.

"So we can risk you going back in there?" Sam, who was sitting in the driver's seat, asked. He hit the gas, pealing out of there. It was early in the morning, and still dark out. Dean was pressed between Cas and Charlie in the back seat. He guessed they didn't want to risk him climbing out of the side door.

"Dean, staying there would have been suicide," Charlie said, touching his arm.

"Yeah, I know," Dean sighed. "I just…I just want to beat whatever this thing is."

"We all do," she said. "And if Rick had still been alive, I would have been right there with you. Saving people is the priority. But he was dead. And we can't save anyone if we're dead."

"Yeah," Dean agreed reluctantly. "I guess you're right." He sighed. "Thanks for saving my ass back there, Cas, buddy," Dean said, touching his friend's shoulder. He was surprised at how tense Castiel was. "Listen, there's nothing we could have done for Rick, back there," Dean said softly.

"I know," Cas said. "I just…That was close, Dean. It was way too close. You could have died. Promise me something."

"Anything," Dean shrugged.

"Promise me you'll watch out for yourself."

"I always do."

"That wasn't what I saw back there. If you don't do it for yourself, do it for me."

"Sure thing," Dean agreed. "Because I mean more to you than anything in the universe, right?"

"What?"

"Nothing," Dean chuckled. "I'll do it for you. You know I'd do anything for you."


	12. cool drink of whiskey, sweet surprise

{PART ONE}

Sam was sitting alone on a bench outside of the hotel, watching the red and yellow leaves drift across the parking lot on the cool breeze. When they were little, he and Dean had chased autumn leaves across hotel parking lots at this time of year. He was often nostalgic for those simpler times. Not as if things had ever been simple for the Winchesters. Even as a kid Sam had felt responsible for so many lives. He and his brother had chased leaves in parking lots instead of making leaf piles in the front yard like every other kid, because they had responsibilities. This time, they had failed. Rick was dead, and they were no closer to figuring out what was doing this.

"Hey there Moose, how's it going?" said a voice. Sam looked up to see Charlie standing beside him. She smiled a little, and sat down.

"Moose?" Sam asked.

"Sorry," Charlie muttered. "I guess my inner fangirl is getting the best of me."

"Yeah I've seen that lately," said Sam. He couldn't help but chuckle a little. "I can't help but notice...I guess you ship Destiel?"

"How do you know about Destiel?" Charlie asked, taken aback.

"I was married to a fangirl for a short period of time…Don't ask."

"I don't need to. Becky Rosen. Love potion," Charlie said. "I thought she was a fan of Win-"

"She was, and please don't ever finish that word…Yeah, but she still knew all about the Supernatural fandom. I learned a few things." He raised his eyebrows, giving her what he quickly realized she would see as his signature puppy dog face, expectantly awaiting her response. Charlie rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on," Charlie sighed. "Give me a break. We both know that their," she made quotation marks with her fingers over the next two words, ""Profound bond" isn't exactly platonic." She put her hands inside of her 'Star Trek' sweatshirt's pockets, shivering. Sam scooted closer to her, also shivering a little. His usual brown jacket felt weak against the wind.

"Yeah, I know," Sam said. "They've been dancing around the topic for years."

"It's so frustrating though!" Charlie groaned.

"Try working with them basically twenty four seven. Most of the time I feel like you could cut the tension with a knife. I'm pretty sure stuff has happened before, and they've been through so much together, but…I don't know."

"Oh stuff has happened," Charlie said, her eyes widening. "I could-"

"I uh, I don't need to know everything," Sam said quickly.

"Right…"

"They've both sacrificed everything for each other so many times," Sam said. "I don't know…I just want my brother to be happy, so I guess you could say Destiel is my OTP."

"You know about OTPs? Oh Sammy," Charlie squealed.

"Shut up," Sam muttered. Charlie giggled, and nudged him with her elbow, standing up.

"Well, it's as cold as Elsa's ice castle out here, let's go inside," she said. Sam snorted.

"Did you just make a Disney reference?" he asked.

"Huh. I guess I did. Maybe I'm losing my touch."

"No, no, Disney's cool," Sam assured her. He stood up and they linked elbows as they walked towards the steps to their hotel room. They sat down together in on the bed. Charlie sighed, laying back and Sam walked over to the TV stand where he'd left a few books on Lore.

He lay on his stomach on the empty bed, flipping through the books for a little while. He still had no clue what could be messing with people like this. What kind of monster would disguise itself as a horror movie monster?

Sam looked over at Charlie, and saw that her mane of red hair had fallen over her face, and she was snoring. He walked over and pulled her hair out of her face, folding the blanket over so that it covered her. It was early, but with everything that had been going on, he couldn't blame Charlie for being exhausted.

He decided to go back out to get some fresh air. Maybe a slap of cold air in the face would wake his mind up. Sam was normally great at research, but whatever this was, it was messing with his mind.

It was beautiful out. Sam breathed the fresh air in deeply. He was walking down the sidewalk in no particular direction when he saw a familiar trench coated figure walking towards him.

"Hey Cas," he said. "Where's Dean?"

"He uh…He met a girl, and they, um," Cas was struggling. He looked down uncomfortably, searching for what to say. Sam was all too used to this with Cas. He patted his friend on the shoulder.

"It's alright," Sam said.

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean?" Sam asked, suddenly worried.

"I mean, Dean is fine, of course, but…"

"What is it?"

"Why do I feel like this?"

"Like what?"

"I don't understand. I mean, we were having a good time, drinking beer, and then…This girl came over, and started talking to us. I know Dean. I've known him for years, and I know how he likes to have sex with lots of women. I just…I'm not sure, really, what I'm feeling. Maybe I'm just worried because of what happened to me when I tried to engage in intercourse with a woman from this town."

"And you're telling me you've never been upset when Dean hooked up with a girl before?" Sam asked cynically.

"Well, I mean…I have. Actually. How did you know that?" Cas tilted his head sideways. It was the look that Sam noticed always made his big brother do a double take.

"Look, you're just jealous," Sam explained patiently. "It's normal."

"Jealous?"

"Yes. Look, just tell him how you feel, Cas."

"What do you mean Sam?"

"Are you in love with my brother?"

"I…Yes." Cas paused, looking more uncomfortable than ever. "But don't ever tell him that."

"Why not?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Not so much," Sam admitted.

"He doesn't feel the same."

"How do you know? Have you talked to him?"

"No, but…I've told him in as many ways as I can what he means to me. I've told him in more than words. I rebelled against heaven. I abandoned everything I know, and I did it, all of it, for him."

"Cas…Look, I know my brother. Just because he's never said the words doesn't mean he doesn't feel the same." Sam found himself growing annoyed with Castiel. What the hell was this, anyway? He wasn't like Dean. He didn't mind chick flick moments so much, but this was getting ridiculous. "Seriously Cas, hasn't he shown you in his own way how much he cares about you? Next time you see him, just tell him flat out how you feel. I'm getting tired of both of your crap. You're in love. Get over it."

"I can't do that."

"What do you mean you can't?"

"I guess I'm just too afraid…" There was a pause as Castiel looked down, his eyes wide. He looked totally embarrassed, as if he couldn't believe he had said that. Sam felt bad for the guy. It wasn't like this was something he'd had to deal with his entire life, like a human. He wasn't used to human things like this. "I don't know," the former angel continued. "I'm not a coward. I'm a brave soldier, Sam, you know that. We've fought together for years now. So why am I so afraid of this?"

"Because this is different," Sam said, softening. They stopped, and sat down on a bench with an advertisement for a local bakery on it.

"What do you mean?"

"This isn't like fighting some demon," Sam explained. "Fighting monsters and things is scary in a way, but facing each other…I guess that's always been Team Free Will's biggest problem." Sam found himself laughing a little at the irony of it. "The three of us have saved the world almost more times than I can count, and yet we still manage to have internal drama that's a so much more intimidating to face than anything else we've ever fought." Cas laughed a little at that as well.

"I guess you're right," he said. He looked at Sam with that sort of intensity that he sometimes got. "Thank you Sam," he said. "You're the best friend I've ever had."

"What about Dean?"

"I think Dean is more than a friend," Cas said. He said it so hesitantly, Sam gave his friend his best puppy eyes in the most comforting way he could. "Oh Sam...Someday you're going to make the girl you choose very lucky," Cas said. "If I weren't already in love with your brother, I think that endearing expression would really work on me." Sam made even bigger puppy eyes at Cas, and stuck his lips out a little as well.

"The power of puppies compels you, now get out of here," Sam said.

"I don't understand that reference, Sam," Cas said. Sam rolled his eyes.

"Just go," he said. "See this," Sam pointed to the advertisement for the bakery on the bench they were sitting on. "This bakery isn't far. Go. Buy Dean a pie, sit down, and talk out your feelings."

"But Dean hates chick flick moments."

"He's going to have to deal with it. No more excuses."

"Sam, what am I going to say to him?"

"Trust me, if you plan it out, it'll only be harder. You'll forget and get flustered or something. Just go." Castiel gave Sam one more frightened look before hurrying off in the direction of the address on the advertisement.

Sam got up, and started walking back towards the hotel. He hadn't really been headed anywhere specific anyway. He was proud of himself for thinking of pie. He normally forgot about it, despite his big brother's constant reminders.

When he got to the hotel, he hung around in the lobby for a few minutes, stalling. He thought about what he had finally burst out and told Castiel to do. Whatever happened, the dynamic of Team Free Will was probably about to change. Or may it isn't, he found himself thinking. His brother and the angel were already basically boyfriends. According to Charlie, and Sam's own common sense, it seemed like a few things beyond friendship had happened before. So maybe this would really just clear the air.

Sam knew that Dean was in love with Castiel. He just hoped for the sake of everyone involved that Dean wouldn't try to run away from this like he did from anything good in life. Sam knew Dean maybe better than Dean knew himself. So, he knew that his big brother was afraid of failing whenever anything worth having was presented to him.

Sam didn't really feel like going back up to the room. He had been cramped in there for days. He sat down at the hotel bar. He didn't really look around, as he was lost in his own thoughts. He ordered a banana daiquiri without looking up.

"Here you are sir," said a strange voice. An unusually pale hand placed the drink in front of Sam. It was oddly high pitched, and goofy. Sam felt a shiver run up his spine. He looked around for the first time. The bar was empty, no one else was around. He looked behind the bar, and screamed loudly, jumping backwards and knocking over his bar stool. Sam would have been embarrassed of the scream if it weren't for the terror coursing through his veins. His heart was thundering his chest.

It was a fat, horrifying, clown. The thing was dressed in bright colors, and its hair was curly and green. What was truly unsetting though, was its face. It was painted in an eerie grin that made cold sweat run down Sam's forehead. It reached up slowly, and Sam gasped as it reached its fingers right under its skin on the side of its face, and tore. No blood appeared. What happened was almost worse. It slowly ripped its entire face away, leaving nothing but a dark hole where there had previously been an evil smile. It held its face in its gloved hand, holding it up to show Sam. It looked like an incredibly disturbing Halloween mask.

The face laughed maniacally from its body's hand. It was so disturbing, Sam felt a little sick to his stomach. Sam was frozen solid, in a panic. He was hyperventilating. He didn't know what to do, and honestly he thought he might cry.

"What the hell are you?" he managed.

"I am the clown with the tear-away face!" the horrific thing shrieked.

{PART TWO}

Castiel walked into the bakery hesitantly. All he had was the six dollars Dean had given him from the bet about whether or not Sam would remember pie. One drop out with six bucks to his name…He felt his heart turning over, and there was an odd, jittery feeling in his belly.

Cas walked over to the display of baked goods, and immediately checked what flavors of pie they had. The cashier was a pretty girl in her mid-twenties. She looked vaguely familiar. It took Cas a minute to realize that she was one of the college girls they had met when asking around about the murders.

"Hi," she said. "Hey I remember you, you're auditing at the school, right?" Cas nodded, still looking at the various flavors of pie. The place wasn't very busy, so the girl leaned over the counter, resting her elbows as she watched Cas. It was fairly obvious she was showing off what was beneath her low-cut T-shirt. "What are you looking for?" she asked him.

"There's someone in my life that I guess I just…" he wasn't sure how to express what he was looking for exactly. "I've wanted to tell them how I feel about them for a long time now. This person really loves pie. I'm going tell them how I feel, and I think if I got them a pie it would make it less…I don't know, difficult I guess."

"Oh how sweet!" the girl squealed. "Well, what's her favorite flavor of pie?"

"I don't know, he's never said…I guess he likes all flavors," Cas said, shrugging. The girl suddenly looked a little uncomfortable. Castiel couldn't place why she would feel that way.

"Oh, 'he,'" she emphasized the second word. "I'm sorry, I just didn't know." She was recovering quickly. "Sorry, I just didn't get that vibe from you. No offense."

"Um, none taken, I guess," Cas had no idea what she was talking about. "So, what kind of pie do you think would work the best?" he asked.

"Well…What about cherry? It's kind of a romantic gesture. Does he like the band 'Warrant?'"

"Yes," Cas said. He was relieved it was a band he had actually heard of, thanks to Dean, who was always trying to get Sam and Cas into classic rock. Cas had succumbed to some extent, partially because he enjoyed classic rock, and partially because Dean always picked the music. He said that the driver picked the music, and the shot-gun should shut their cakehole.

"Well, you could turn on that 'Cherry Pie' song, and give it to him," she giggled. "Is that totally corny?"

"No," Cas said. "I think he would like that. Thank you-" he tilted his head, looking at her inquiringly.

"Sally," she said. "Hey, um, my friends and I are having a party this weekend. It's going to be really fun. We're going to watch horror movies and stuff, to celebrate Halloween, sense it's coming up. Why don't you and your friends come? Well, hopefully you and your boyfriend and your friends by that time," she winked at him. Cas felt his face grow warm.

"Yeah," he said. He looked down awkwardly hiding his smile at the thought of calling Dean his boyfriend. She saw it though, and giggled a little.

She sold him the cherry pie, and wrote the details about the party on the receipt. Cas had honestly had enough of horror movies in the past couple of days, and he knew it wasn't even over yet. He was sure that Sam, Dean, and Charlie would feel the same, but he couldn't tell Sally that. She had just been so nice, and besides, how could he tell her that he and his friends were fighting a mysterious being that was re-enacting horror movie deaths?

Castiel took the pie, and headed back towards the hotel. He tried to think what he could possibly say to Dean. He knew that Sam was right, and it was a bad plan to plan ahead. He couldn't help trying to find the words to describe their profound bond, though. He kept worrying that whatever he said, it would end up scaring Dean away, and he would lose him forever as a friend.

{PART THREE}

Sam didn't know what to do. He pulled his silver knife out of his pocket, and wielded it wildly at the horrific creature in front of him. He was freaking out too much to be able to fight functionally though.

"Sam!" Cas ran into the lobby, dropping a pink paper bag and hurrying towards Sam.

"Cas, thank God!" Sam yelled. "Help!" The clown had put back on its face, which really didn't make it any better. It was laughing evilly, and dancing around on top of the bar.

"What movie is that thing from?" Cas asked, standing beside Sam. The ex-angel was poised for battle, and he had his angel blade at the ready.

"The Nightmare Before Christmas," Sam said.

"How did they defeat it in the movie?" Cas asked.

"They didn't!"

"Damn it! Did it have any weaknesses?"

"No!"

"Damn it!" Cas repeated. Dean sauntered into the lobby through the front door. At first, he didn't see what was going on. He had the grin that Sam recognized as one his big brother always wore after a good hook up.

As soon as Dean saw what was happening, he was standing beside Sam and Cas with his demon blade out. Sam was freaking out, but he was still touched by his big brother's protective stance beside him.

"A clown…I am so sorry, Sammy," Dean sighed. "What do we know?"

"Dean, it's the clown with the tear-away face," Sam said. He couldn't keep the panic out of his voice.

"That thing always did get to you, didn't it? You do know it isn't really supposed to be sca-"

"Dean! Stay focused!"

"Right." The clown dove forward, still laughing wildly. It landed on top of Sam, tacking him to the ground. Sam yelled out in terror. He tried to shove it off of him, but it was way too fat. In his effort, he ended up throwing his knife across the lobby. The clown was giggling menacingly, and grinning down at him with an awful blood red mouth, and pale white face. Sam was yelling uncontrollably, and thrashing wildly. Dean and Cas grabbed the clown's arms on either side, and pulled. They yanked it off of Sam, and he stood up, panting.

"Hey, ass-butt!" called a voice from the bottom of the steps. Charlie was rushing towards them, carrying a bottle of whiskey. Sam remembered seeing Dean sneak the bottle underneath his pillow when he thought no one was looking. Charlie must have seen it too. "Sorry Cas, I stole that line from you, I know," she said quickly. "And Dean, I'm sorry about your drink, but I don't know what I did with the knife you gave me, and it was the only weapon I could find, and also I think you drink too much. I'm sorry, it just-"

"Charlie!" Sam, Dean, and Cas all yelled at once.

"Right," she said quickly. She threw the bottle at the clown's horrific face, and it shattered to bits. The clown only howled in laughter at first, than he exploded. Instead of blood, or guts, or glitter as Sam had once experienced when clowns exploded near him, rainbows flew everywhere. They all coughed. The rainbows smelled vaguely of candy-canes, and whiskey. It took a few minutes before they could see clearly, or breathe. Even then, there were a few wisps of rainbow drifting around.

There was a soft ding, and a young couple came out of the elevator. They looked at the scene for a few seconds, and edged out of the door into the parking lot slowly. Sam sat down on one of the bar stools, and shakily began pouring himself a glass of whiskey from a bottle behind the bar.

"That…was intense," Charlie said.

"Yeah," Sam managed.

"Oh come on," she said. "No one got that? It was a scream reference. Cotton Weary said it right after…You know what? Never mind. Sam, pour me some of that."

"I'll have some too," Dean said, sitting down at the bar.

"Same here," Cas said. Sam poured them all some. They all clanked their glasses together.

"Cheers to figuring out what the hell this thing is," Dean said.

"Agreed," Sam nodded, chugging the whiskey. "Am I the only one who thinks it's weird that there's no real bar tender here?"

"It's afternoon," Charlie said. "The bar doesn't open yet."

"So we're technically stealing," Sam said slowly. "Normally I would be opposed but…What the hell? After what just happened, we've earned this."

"I uh, I have pie," Cas said. "It's cherry. If anyone wants any."

"Sure, I'll have some of that," Dean said quickly. Cas walked away and returned with the pink paper bag he'd been carrying when he first came in. Sam felt his heart sink a little. So, the ex-angel was chickening out. He tried to catch Castiel's eye, but couldn't. Cas was avoiding looking at him as he cut the pie.

"Hey!" shouted a voice. They all turned to see a man in a bellhop uniform coming towards them. "Hey! Do I need to get the manager?"

"Yeah, this whiskey is terrible," Dean said. "Seriously, what do you think y-"

"We're sorry, we're going to our room, and I'll cover the drinks, and the damage caused by the uh, spill," Sam said quickly before his big brother's rebellious nature could get them all kicked out of the hotel. The bellhop looked in astonishment at the pieces of glass from the exploded bottle of whiskey.

"What the hell?" he muttered. "And…Are there rainbows drifting around this room?"

"Yeah," Sam said, staring directly at Castiel. "We're in a room full of rainbows. Too bad some people don't embrace that, and, oh, I don't know...Grow a pair and talk about it." Cas looked away from the meaningful puppy eyes Sam was making at him. Dean was looking back and forth between the two of them in confusion. Charlie was trying not to giggle as she downed another shot of whiskey. The bellhop interrupted the sort of awkward silence by speaking loudly, and snapping Team Free Will out of their internal drama briefly.

"Seriously, what the hell?"


	13. Isn't it obvious?

Dean kicked a pile of red and orange leaves into the pond he and Charlie were walking beside. It was a chilly day, but it was nice to get out of the hotel, where for some odd reason, things were getting incredibly awkward. Sam was obviously pissed at Cas about something, but no one would tell Dean what it was, even though Charlie also seemed to be in on it. All the same, when she asked if she could go along with him when he climbed into the Impala for a ride, he hadn't declined.

As if this case weren't difficult enough, Team Free Will's drama was getting in the way as usual. Dean wished he at least had an inkling of an idea what this was about. He pulled his flask of whiskey out of his jacket, and took a swig.

"It's a little early for that don't you think, Squirrel?" Charlie asked. Dean sighed.

"If you're just going to give me crap, why don't you go back to the hotel with Sam and Cas and gossip about me like little kids?"

"What?" Charlie stopped walking, and began idly poking a stick around in the water. Dean sat down on a fallen tree. He took another drink from the flask.

"Oh come on," Dean said. "I know something's up. I just wish someone would be an adult and tell me what it is." Charlie sat down beside him. She squinted at him.

"Are you being serious right now?" she asked him.

"Do I look like I'm kidding?"

"Sometimes when you say something funny you keep a straight face…" Charlie trailed off. "I mean, that's not the point. Do you really not know what's up?" This was the last thing Dean had expected her to say.

"Excuse me?"

"Dean…You know I love you, but sometimes you can be so freaking clueless," Charlie said, shaking her head. "Isn't it obvious?"

"Obviously it isn't to me," Dean snapped. "So please, enlighten me."

"Dean, we're really good friends, right?"

"I don't know. A good friend would tell me what's going on."

"Right. I'll take that to mean we're BFFs sense it's coming from you," Charlie muttered. "So tell me honestly. What the Hell is going on with you and Castiel?"

"Um, what? Nothing. We're fine. I mean, unless he's mad at me for some reason. Or do I have a reason to be mad at him?" Dean paused, feeling a little sickened by more than the early morning whiskey. "Jesus, Charlie, you do realize that this is exactly the kind of chick flick moment I really hate?"

"No, no one's mad, it's just…Look, Dean…I've read the 'Supernatural' books, OK? I know that you and Cas' profound bond, or whatever you want to call it, goes beyond friendship."

"What?"

"I mean…I know that you guys have a…complicated relationship. And trust me, I know labels aren't always a good thing but this is getting ridiculous. It's only hurting both of you not to talk about your feelings."

"Talk about our f-" Dean sputtered. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"Are you in love with Cas?"

"I, I-" Dean found himself stuttering that one stupid word again and again. He couldn't answer. He certainly couldn't say yes. He couldn't seem to honestly say no either, though. "Don't ask ridiculous questions!" his voice sounded ridiculous. He was aware that it was much more high pitch than usual, and his face was growing hot.

"You know that Halloween party we were invited to?" Charlie asked, totally changing the subject.

"The one the chick at the bakery told Cas about?" Dean asked, thrown off.

"Yeah."

"What about it?"

"Are we going?"

"I don't know. It might be a good chance to investigate the school a little more. Maybe a student is a suspect. Why did you bring that up?"

"To change the subject because I proved my point. You were freaking out. I'm not heartless, you know. I'll let you sort this one out on your own. That is unless of course, by some miracle, you want to talk."

"I…Of course I don't want to talk. No chick flick moments!" Dean burst out quickly. It sounded forced, though. "I mean, um, why do you ask? Do you think Cas is in lo-," he carefully cut himself off. "Do you think he likes me or something?" Dean asked before he could stop himself. His face was growing ever warmer. He wished he hadn't brought it up again. Charlie had given him a way out of the question! What the hell was wrong with him?

"Dean, he's obviously in love with you!" Charlie said. She threw her stick into the pond hard in frustration.

"How do you know, Charlie?" Dean asked, again, before he could stop the words from leaving his lips.

"It is beyond clear how much he cares about you! Didn't you even notice how protective he was of you when we were running away from Samara? Don't you notice how protective he always is of you? He's given up everything for you, Dean. Every choice he's ever made has been for you. He believes in free will because of you."

"But I'm nothing." The words were out, and Dean couldn't take them back. He couldn't turn back the clock, no matter how badly he wanted to. So he just kept going, even if it hurt, even if it was nothing he had ever allowed himself to fully think about, let alone say aloud. He didn't want to tell Charlie what was really behind his refusal to believe that someone like Castiel loved him. He didn't want anyone to know. The words were pouring out though, and it was beyond his control. "I'm just a stupid, pointless, human. I'm not even a good human. How is it that I'm the so called righteous man that Castiel was supposed to raise from perdition? I drink, and I have sex with lots and lots and lots of different girls. I'm a jerk sometimes, I know that. I'm insensitive, and I'm selfish. Hell, I dragged my own little brother into a hunter's life just so I wouldn't have to be alone in it when our dad went missing. I let you get dragged into this life, Charlie, and I'll never stop being sorry for that. So yes, of course I'm in love with Castiel. But how could someone like him ever fall for someone like me?"

Dean's heart sank when he saw the look of pity in Charlie's eyes. It wasn't what he wanted. In fact, it was the last thing he wanted. He couldn't stand the way she was looking at him. It made him feel a thousand times more pathetic than his sudden, stupid, overshare already had. He felt a lump building in his throat, and tears brimming behind his eyes. He stood up, and hurried away.

"Dean!" Charlie called. He hurried away as fast as he could go without flat out running. He only began to slow down when he could no longer feel the cool mist from the lake around his ankles, and he was sure he couldn't hear the crackling of leaves underfoot that would mean Charlie had followed him.

Could Charlie's words be true? There was no way. Yes, Cas had given everything for Dean. But…He had been doing the honorable thing, because that was who Castiel was. He had been sacrificing everything for humanity in general, not just for Dean. Old words rang in Dean's head. 'I'm hunted, I rebelled, and I did it, all of it for you.' He would never forget when Cas looked him in the eye, and said that beautiful, painful, difficult to fathom sentence. He had been snapping in frustration at Dean's lack of thanks. Yet, Dean was almost sure that there had been something other than fury in Cas' perfect blue eyes that day. It was something intense, more powerful, and much deeper than anger. Love? Maybe…No. That couldn't be it. He wouldn't even let himself really consider it.

Dean could remember practically everything the now former angel had ever said to him. He would never forget when they first met. Castiel had been the only one who understood what was going on with Dean. The angel had been the only one to see why the hunter couldn't accept the idea that an angel of the lord had saved him. 'What's the matter? You don't think you deserve to be saved.' That was the first time Cas had ever done his signature head tilt, with those wide, questioning eyes. Maybe that day, that first question, was the reason the look always made Dean's heart do flips.

No, don't think about this, just stop, Dean said to himself. He didn't want to deal with this. He didn't want to let himself think, even for a moment, that Castiel might actually be in love with him. He couldn't let himself think that. If he did, he would be crushed if it turned out not to be true. And how could it be true?

Dean was pacing back and forth along the sidewalk now. He never let the path to the lake out of sight. He was starting to regret walking away from Charlie. He couldn't actually leave anyway, they were a little too far from the hotel for him to feel right about that.

Dean froze in front of the path. What the hell? There was something going on down by the lake. He cocked his head, listening carefully. Someone was screaming. Dean was running already when the next scream came, this one much louder. It was Charlie's voice. Dean raced towards the lake as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Son of a BITCH," he muttered to himself as he ran. Why had he left Charlie alone? He knew what had been going on. How many freaking horror movies took place by a lake again? "God I'm such an idiot," he panted.

He stopped when he got to where he and Charlie had been sitting. There was no sign of Charlie. He looked around desperately. Something splashed out in the water. There was a thin veil of mist making the entire surface of the lake a blur. Dean dove in without a second thought. The water was absolutely frigid. The icy chills started up his spine the second he hit the water, but he didn't even pause. He was swinging his arms and kicking his legs as fast as he could.

The cold was so overwhelming it actually felt as if it were burning Dean. His teeth were clanking together so quickly it hurt. His fingers and toes were quickly growing numb.

"Jesus Christ…" he muttered. "Charlie! Charlie, where the hell are you?"

"Dean!" came a shuddering gasp from nearby. Dean dove towards his friend's voice.

The icy splashes of water in his face made him wince, but not slow down. He felt his arms touch something, and he grabbed on. It was a bony leg, or arm. It had to be Charlie.

"Charlie, is that you?"

"Dean?" No. She was farther away than before. Dean couldn't see clearly, the mist was clouding his vision. He squinted, and yelled in shock as the thing he had grabbed onto flailed out from under the water, its face inches from Dean's.

It was a child. It was a slimy, horrible, long sense dead child. Its skin was rotted away, and it smelled of seaweed and muck. It curled back horrible lips, to reveal a toothless sneer. Dean tried to push away from the thing, but one of its hands was wrapped tightly around his ankle. Even in his panic, Dean realized who this was. He remembered in a flash that the very first 'Friday the 13th' movie had actually ended with a child Jason jumping out of the water. So this must be Jason. Awesome.

Dean gasped as the childlike monster dove beneath the surface, gripping his ankle tightly. He tried to propel himself back towards the surface with all of his strength, but it was useless. Jason was pulling him further and further, until he was so deep that all he could see was blackness. He felt utterly numb. The cold was no longer an issue. What bothered him was the grimy water pouring into his mouth and nose. He couldn't breathe, his throat was constricting, and he was gulping in water in his body's vain attempt to intake air.

The last thing Dean was aware of was a hand gripping his wrist, and tugging. He was no longer sure which way was up, down, or sideways. The water surrounded him vastly on all sides. He didn't resist the tug as he drifted out of consciousness.


	14. My Bloody-This chapter should be rated M

{PART ONE}

There was just darkness. Everything was black, and empty. Dean couldn't think straight. His mind was spinning. He only vaguely understood that he was slowly becoming aware of his heavy, icy, body.

"Dean!" a familiar, worried, voice yelled. He tried to croak the word 'Sammy,' but found that his throat was filled with sloshy water. As he was slowly regaining consciousness, Dean became aware that he was struggling to breathe in.  
>Large, heavy, hands slammed down on Dean's chest painfully. His throat was sloshy with water. He rolled his neck to the side, and water came pouring out of his mouth. His eyes flew open. Sammy was standing over him, his hands on Dean's chest.<p>

"Thank God," Sam muttered. He pulled his big brother into a tight hug. "Dean, I thought we had lost you. God, I love you."

"I love you too, Sammy," Dean said. His arms felt weak, like noodles, but he still managed to hug his little brother back. Of course, Sammy was actually a lot bigger physically than Dean, but still. "Where's Charlie?" he croaked. God, his voice sounded awful.

"I'm fine," said a soft voice that sounded at least as strained as Dean's did. Dean found himself collapsing back onto the bed. "I actually pulled you out of the water, Dean." She laughed in a whisper. "I got to save the damsel in distress."

He rolled to the side, and basked for a moment in relief at the sight of Charlie in the bed across from him. She was leaning against the wall behind the bed, swaddled in about fifty blankets. Dean realized that he was also covered in extra blankets, and he squeezed them around himself, shivering. Now that he was able to breath, he became aware that he was shaking uncontrollably. The hotel room door creaked open.

"Sam, I got more blank-" Cas' strained voice stopped mid-word as Dean rolled over to face the door. The ex-angel dropped the pile of blankets he was carrying in his arms onto the floor. He slammed the door behind him, so that the cold air wouldn't get in. He hurried towards the bed with purpose.

When Castiel reached the bed, he leaned down, and wrapped his arms around Dean's shoulders, pulling him into a sitting position. Dean's numb arms slowly lifted to wrap around his friend's waist. Cas' arms were so tight around Dean's neck he found himself gasping a little.

"Cas," he managed to hiss. "Can't…breathe." Castiel quickly moved his arms from around Dean's shoulders. Before Dean could react, his best friend's hands were on either side of his face. Cas' lips crashed against his own without hesitation.

Dean remained totally still for a little over a second. Then he was kissing Castiel back. He hugged his friend as tightly as his numb arms would allow, slipping his hands beneath the trench coat, and moving his lips gently in sync with Cas'. He didn't care that Sammy and Charlie were laughing. He didn't care that he was still having trouble breathing, and he was being very sloppy. All that mattered was the gentle hands in his dripping wet hair, and the desperate lips against his own. Sam finally coughed loudly.

"Alright guys," Sammy said. "Get a room."

"We're in a room," Dean managed in a voice muffled by Castiel's lips against his own.

"Ok?" Sam said. Sam was quiet for a few minutes. Dean assumed his little brother was waiting for him and Cas to release each other. That didn't happen. "So Charlie, how do you feel about going down to the lobby?" Sam finally asked. Charlie answered with a shaky giggle.  
>Sam's arm was around Charlie's blanket swaddled shoulder as they hurried out. Dean was hardly aware of it as Sam and Charlie left the room, except to be glad that his brother and his friend were giving this to him. There were a lot of covers, but not enough to hide the huge truth of what was happening beneath them. As soon as the door slammed shut behind them, Cas started to climb on top of Dean, still kissing him frantically. Dean clumsily moved the covers aside enough for his best friend to slip underneath. Cas pulled the covers over both of them.<p>

Dean felt the ex-angel's hips moving against his own, the legs on either side of his. He noticed the careful gentleness with which Castiel stroked his face, and kissed him all over. His lips, his cheeks, his neck….He found his hands hesitantly reaching beneath the trench coat, and toying with the waistline of Cas' pants.

He played with the belt uncertainly. The movement of Cas' body, and the heat and hard pressure Dean could feel radiating from under the ex-angel's pants made it all too clear there was no need for unsureness. There was something Dean had to do first, though. It was very, very important. It was important because Cas wasn't just a hook up. This was more than just two friends fooling around. It was everything.

"I love you," he whispered into his friend's ear.

"I love you so much, Dean," Cas said into Dean's lips. "I always have." So it was true. Of course it was true. How could he ever have doubted it?

Dean didn't hesitate anymore. He slipped a hand under the waistline of Cas' pants, and under his underwear. Cas made a soft sound, and Dean was incredibly turned on by the way the former angel's body constricted, and the feeling of the burning hot, huge, hard, handful against his hand. With the hand that wasn't down Castiel's pants, he shakily undid the buttons of Cas' white shirt. He was still shivering violently from the icy lake water, but not all of him was still cold. There was a specific region that was actually on fire. He felt along the smooth contours of Cas' torso greedily.

They paused just for an instant, both panting, as Dean tore off his drenched jacket and shirt, and tossed them on the floor. He actually felt much warmer without the cold fabric clinging to his skin. Castiel's perfect, deep blue eyes roamed Dean's shirtless body. His warm hands wrapped around Dean's back, and the former angel was on top of him again, pulling the covers back over them. Even in the heat of this moment, Cas was worrying about him. He was protecting Dean from the cold. Dean didn't know how he had ever felt unsure that Castiel loved him. The white button up shirt and trench coat fell on top of Dean's shirt and jacket on the hotel room floor.

They rubbed against each other, feeling each other everywhere. Neither of them had any more inhibitions as they finally allowed themselves to do what they had longed to do for so long. This was beyond anything Dean had ever experienced, with anyone. It went so much deeper than simple desire. He and Castiel had been through so much together. The two of them had faced challenges that most people could never even dream of. They knew the best, and the darkest, parts of each other. Their bond was so much more than anything that could ever be described with words. It was powerful, and painful, and beautiful, and profound.

Dean kissed Cas everywhere as his hand worked steadily under Cas' pants. He wasn't cold anymore. He felt very warm, and safe, in Castiel's arms, beneath the pile of blankets.

"I love you," he whispered again, into the former angel's neck. Cas arched his back, which pressed him harder against Dean, a feat that Dean wouldn't have guessed possible.

"I love you too, Dean," he murmured. It came out hoarse. Dean ran his lips along the stubble on Castiel's jawline, and Cas' breathing increased. Dean could feel Cas' heart thudding against his own. His nails were dug deep into Castiel's shoulder, and he moved his hand up the back of Cas' neck, so that it was tangled in the always messy black hair that was so very adorable. Both of their bodies began pressing together in motions that were growing harder and faster, and the springs on the mattress protested noisily.

Dean's hands were certain as he undid the belt buckle. He unbuttoned, and then unzipped. He was not afraid, and he did not feel unworthy. This was how it was meant to be. This was always how it was meant to be. Dean couldn't believe it had taken them both this long to figure it out.

Both of their pants and underwear joined the other clothing articles on the floor. They clung to each other in the drafty hotel room, under the blankets, whispering how much they meant to each other. Cas' fingers dug into Dean, moving gradually higher on his inner thighs. His hands stopped moving very briefly before reaching their goal, where they began to work in a way that was not quite as gentle as Cas was being with the rest of Dean. Dean found his face pressed into the pillow as Castiel climbed on top of him.

The hotel beds were rather firm, and immoveable. Somehow though, Dean and Cas managed to make the whole bed shake violently with their rocking. This was perfect bliss. Their minds and bodies were in total harmony. They belonged together. Dean did not think about how he was just a stupid, pointless human. He did not feel that way at all with Castiel moaning that he loved him, and touching him intimately. He felt like he was worth something. He felt happy, and loved. This was perfect bliss. He loved Castiel so damn much.

{PART TWO}

Sam couldn't stop smiling as he and Charlie rode down the elevator, and sat down together on an empty sofa. It was evening, so there were a few other people in the lobby, and Charlie's disheveled state earned them some odd looks. Possibly Charlie and Sam's smiling, blushing, faces were also gaining them attention from bored hotel guests.

Charlie had woken up a bit before Dean, so she was already in dry clothes, but her hair was still damp, and her lips looked a little blue. Sam hoped for a moment that Dean would have the sense to change into dry clothes, than realized that this was unlikely to happen for a little while, and not because Dean would be leaving on his wet outfit. Sam blocked any further unnecessary images from his mind. He was very glad for his brother and his friend, though.

"Good for them," he said to Charlie.

"It's about damn time," Charlie agreed, smirking a little. "With how long they waited, I'm thinking you and I might want to just check into a different room. I'm assuming they'll want to make up for lost time."

"I guess you might be right," Sam admitted. They headed over to the main desk, and inquired about empty rooms.

"We need a room," Sam said.

"Aren't you two checked in already?" asked the older woman behind the desk. She peered at them curiously through thick, square, glasses. Sam noticed a cross necklace dangling down over her black turtle neck.

"Um, yeah," Charlie explained awkwardly. "Our, uh, friends needed that room to themselves."

"The two gentlemen who couldn't keep their hands off of each other even in public?" the woman asked rather harshly. So, even strangers noticed the constant tension between Dean and Castiel. Sam suppressed a snort. It was true that the two of them were always finding excuses to put their arms around each other, or stand excessively close, or put a hand on the other's shoulder. He had a feeling that their level of PDA was only going to increase soon.

"Yeah," Charlie said. She stepped on Sam's foot. He was aware that he was pressing his lips far too tightly together to keep from laughing. Whatever, he could tell Charlie was having an equally difficult time keeping a straight face.

"Well, those two are certainly…Well," the woman fingered her necklace delicately. Her insides apparently matched the completely straight, square forming rims of her ugly, thick spectacles. Yet, she acted worried about catching second hand disease. Sam felt a slight disgust towards the woman. Screw her for judging his big brother when she didn't even know him. Sam realized that they would possibly be facing this kind of thing a bit more than usual depending on just how much Dean and Cas' public behavior changed in the near future.

"So…Can we book a new room?" Charlie asked awkwardly. The woman shook her wrinkled face, and the flaps of skin dangled disgustingly about. Sam didn't normally judge people's appearances, but for this hag he couldn't help but make an exception. She typed on her computer for a few seconds before answering.

She gave them a room number in a curt, overly formal voice. They paid and she handed over the key. Sam and Charlie headed up to their new room.

Once they were inside, they both burst into giggles. Charlie quickly added the blankets provided on her bed to the several she was already keeping wrapped around her like a cloak.

"Here," Sam said. He tossed her his own comforter, using only the sheet to cover himself.

"No way, Sam, you need this," Charlie said, trying to throw it back. He shook his head.

"I'm good," he insisted. She shrugged, wrapping herself in the comforter. There was a pause as Sam pulled out his laptop and began looking through sites of lore on monsters that mimicked fictional monsters. It was the umpteenth time he had done this, but someone had to do research. He got the impression that lore was the very last thing on his big brother's mind.

"Well, those two are certainly," Charlie said in a high pitched, over-zealously proper voice. "Well." Sam had to laugh. It wasn't a bad impression of the hotel secretary.

"Do you get a lot of that crap, Charlie?" he asked. He had never met any of her girlfriends, so he wasn't sure how she was around them.

"Oh sure," she shrugged. "That's the price of free love. Not everyone will agree that you should be free. Isn't that what you guys are all about, though? Team Free Will. You can shape your own destiny, and all that?"

"You guys?" Sam asked. "You know you are part of Team Free Will, Charlie."

"Yeah," Charlie said. "I know. I'm one of the guys. Yay me. Who knows, maybe I'll start dying once or twice a year now." Sam rolled his eyes.

"I'm serious," he said.

"I am too," Charlie said. "You have to let go of people like her. Did you like the irony of the cross necklace? She doesn't want anyone doing anything too sac-religious…If she only knew that Castiel used to be an angel, but rebelled against the heavens for the man he loved." She and Sam both laughed at that. "So, Indian?" Charlie asked after their laughter began to fade.

"Excuse me?" Sam asked. Indian? What was Charlie talking about?

"Food," Charlie answered. "Do you want to order some? I don't know about you, but I'm as hungry as an adipos."

"A what?"

"It's a refer-" Charlie stopped herself. "Never mind. Anyway, almost drowning really made me feel starved."

"Yeah, Indian sounds great," Sam said. They ordered the food and Sam turned to his dad's journal, not for the first time, flipping through the pages to see if he had missed anything the first hundred times. Charlie studied websites and articles that might explain this horror movie imitating monster. Sam had already read about everything he could find on the history of the town, and the college where the murders seemed to connect back to. Nothing similar to this had ever happened that he could find.

"Hey do you smell something weird?" Charlie asked after a few minutes. Sam sniffed the air.

"Yeah," he said. "I recognize that from…" He didn't want to say why the smell would always stir him. It reminded him of his darkest days, when he had craved something so similar to it, but with a hint of sulfur mixed in where his personal longing was concerned. It was salt, and rust, and death, and pain. It was the smell of blood. "I recognize it from everywhere, I guess." This was at least partially true. He never seemed to be able to get away from it, living the life he did. "It's blood."

"No…" Charlie murmured. She and Sam both put aside their research temporarily to look around the room. "Its…sweet," Charlie said. "It smells almost like candy."

"I recognize that smell," Sam assured her. He could even tell where it was coming from. He stood up, and walked over to Charlie's bed hesitantly. She scooted to the end of the bed as he lifted her pillow. There was a heart shaped chocolate box lying there. They exchanged an uneasy look as Sam slowly lifted the lid.

Charlie shrieked, jumping off the bed. Sam dropped the lip, and backed away from the now menacing little box. Inside of it was a bright red, bloody, heart. It was human heart. Sam had seen enough of them by now to be positive. He felt sick at the gory sight. He was very disturbed that Charlie had leaned against that pillow, even rested there. The look on her face made it clear she was even more upset by this.

"Oh God," Charlie muttered. "I'll be right back. Whatever you do, don't follow me. This isn't going to prett-" she rushed into the bathroom, overcome before she could finish. Sam heard her retching into the toilet.

"I hate to do this…" Sam muttered. He pulled out his phone. It had been at least a couple hours sense he and Charlie left Dean and Castiel alone. Sam somehow doubted it had been long enough, but this couldn't really wait. He hit speed dial and called his brother. As always, Dean answered after a few rings. His big brother's voice was still a little hoarse and strained from his near drowning experience, and Sam could only assume other recent activities involving the throat as well. He quickly blocked subsequent images from his mind's eye. "Hey, Dean…I'm really sorry about this…But…"


	15. Ouija Boards & Dates

{PART ONE}

Castiel pulled his head out from under the covers, and lay back on the pillow. Dean zipped up his pants with the hand that wasn't answering his little brother's call. The hunter was now damp and warm from a hot, steamy, shower which he had not taken alone. He was also wearing dry clothes, including Castiel's trench coat over his usual brown leather jacket. Dean had worried that Cas would be cold, but the ex-angel insisted. After all, it was Dean who had just nearly drowned in a frigid lake. As Dean answered, Cas found himself resting his hand on the hunter's leg, and admiring the perfect shape of him. He loved getting lost in those green eyes the color of the forest on a rainy day, and those perfect freckles speckled across Dean's flawless face.

"What?" Dean asked. He sat up abruptly, and Cas followed suit, immediately worried.

"Are they OK?" he asked. He had worried when they didn't come back after a while, but his hunter had insisted that they were only being considerate. Cas had accepted. After all, Dean knew more about social etiquette than he did. Now he found his mind racing through gruesome possibilities, and he grew tense. Dean didn't answer him right away. His nails started digging into Dean's leg, and the hunter carefully pried them off.

"A heart?" Dean asked. There was a pause as something was confirmed. Dean's content face had shifted into a grimace. "We'll be right there." He hung up the phone, and stood up.  
>"What is it?" Castiel asked, following Dean to the door. They hurried down the hall as Dean spoke.<p>

"There was a human heart in Charlie's bed," Dean said. Castiel recognized every subtlety in his friend's features and voice by now. He had been memorizing these little things for years. So, Dean didn't have to say that he was starting to worry that they were failing this case. It was apparent.

Dean stopped in the middle of the hall. Cas ran right into the back of his own coat, which his hunter was still wearing. Dean knocked on one of the doors, and Sam answered almost on the first knock. He and Charlie ushered them in, quickly closing the door behind them.

"Charlie, are you OK?" Dean asked. The pretty red headed hunter was sitting on the bed, looking pale. Dean went over to her, and put a comforting arm around her shoulder.

"Yeah," she said. Her voice sounded very high pitched, though. Castiel was sure that she was much paler than when they had last seen her. There was also a slight sheen of sweat on her face. She was biting her lip so hard it almost hurt to watch. Cas was worried that she might draw blood.

"You should stop biting your lip," he told her.

"What?" she asked, looking at him as if he were a madman. It was a look the ex-angel had become rather accustomed to as he tried to learn the subtle nuances of human behavior.

"You're going to hurt yourself," he told her. She stopped.

"I didn't even notice I was doing it," she said.

"Where is the heart?" Cas asked her. Charlie and Sam exchanged a strange look.

"What?" Dean asked, standing up and looking around as if he expected the heart to appear out of nowhere.

"It's gone," Sam said softly.

"What do you mean it's gone?" Cas asked. Maybe this was another little part of human speech he was getting confused about. Hearts didn't just disappear. Or, they shouldn't. Sam and Charlie exchanged another glance, and neither of them answered.

"What do you mean it's gone?" Dean asked, reiterating the question. Cas' stomach turned over. If Dean was confused as well, something was even more wrong than it already was. It wasn't easy to throw Dean Winchester off of his game. "Sam, where's the heart?"

"Charlie was…She was in the bathroom, and I went in to check on her. When we came back, it was just gone."

"What the hell?" Dean asked. It seemed to be a rhetorical question. No one answered. They all just stood around, staring at each other, baffled for a few minutes. "Son of a BITCH," Dean finally said. "What movie is that from anyways?"

"My Bloody Valentine," Charlie said softly.

"Oh, yeah, I've seen that," Sam said, and Dean grunted in acknowledgement that he too knew of the film. "Did you notice that the guy playing the villain looked just like Dean?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, he did," Charlie said. "Seriously, the resemblance was eerie."

"I didn't notice any similarities," Dean said, annoyed. He paused. "What I don't get…" he said, and it was hard to tell if he was talking to himself or them. He sat down on one of the beds, and Cas sat beside him. Sam joined Charlie on the opposite bed. "I just don't understand why this thing keeps jumping around between different movies. This isn't a true re-enactment, its only doing certain parts."

"I guess whatever it is just wants to mess with our heads," Sam said.

"Yeah, but what do we know of that likes to do that?" Dean asked. "Monsters are usually more mindless, and, you know, all about the prey. Whatever is doing this is smart. It's screwing with us."

"Good point," Sam said. He pulled out his laptop and began typing furiously. There were a few moments in which the only sound was Sam's fingers tapping at his keyboard, and clicking on various sites.

Outside of the window, a swirl of yellow and red leaves blew past. It was dark, and grey clouds covered the moon and stars so the only lights outside were from the road. The silver glint of a candy wrapper mixed in with the leaves caught Cas' eye.

"I'm still not finding anything really new here," Sam snapped in frustration, slamming his keyboard shut.

"Sam, you've been researching basically twenty-four-seven," Dean said. "Take a break." Dean leaned across the beds to pat his brother on the shoulder. Sam didn't look especially comforted. His eyes had that distant look they got when he was trying desperately to understand something. There was a knock on the door, and Sam hurried out into the hall for a few moments. When he came back, he was carrying a brown paper bag.

"The Indian food is here," he said to Charlie. She just nodded. "Sorry we didn't get you guys anything," Sam continued, now addressing his big brother and Castiel. "I know you don't like Indian food Dean, and we assumed you guys would be…busy."

"That's fine," Dean said, standing up. "We'll go get some burgers, and meet you guys back here to do a bit more research." He stood up, taking Castiel's hand in his own. It was a sweet gesture, very easy and casual. Cas liked the feeling of his fingers intertwined with his favorite person's. They walked through the dark parking lot to Impala that way.

Dean turned on the song 'You and Me' by Alice Cooper, and started singing along, tapping his hand against the dashboard. A smile spread across Cas' face involuntarily. Despite everything awful that was happening, and his trepidation over this case, he was happy. Their lives would never be simple, or easy. They would always be working against something dark, and evil. That was the way that it was. But they had each other. Team Free Will.

They stopped at a diner a couple blocks away from the hotel, and walked in together. Dean was still wearing the trench coat, and Cas kind of liked the way it looked on him. Of course, it was difficult to imagine anything that would look bad on Dean. Then again, he looked best with nothing at all on.

As they walked in, Cas hesitantly took Dean's hand again. He didn't have very much experience with relationships, so he was little nervous that he would do something wrong and set Dean off. The hunter seemed to be as happy as he was though.

"I'm going to order," Dean said. "Why don't you go find us a table?"

"OK," Cas said.

"What do you want?"

"Just a burger…Also, see if they have any pie," Cas said. He remembered the sweet perfection of the pumpkin pie Sam had brought the other day, and was excited at the prospect of more. Dean chuckled.

"What do you know? I'm rubbing off on you, no pun intended," Dean said. He kissed Castiel briefly on the cheek before heading over to the counter. Cas slowly reached a hand up to touch his cheek, mesmerized by the soft feeling of Dean's lips.

He shook his head a little, focusing on the task at hand. He had to find a table. He had to not get lost watching Dean walking away. He was now more than ever, hyper aware of many of the subtleties of Dean's motions, so this was easier thought than done.

Cas found a booth though, and sat down. Dean returned a few moments later carrying two sodas. He handed one to Cas, and sat down on the bench beside him. Dean reached under the table, and placed a hand very high on Cas' upper thigh.

"What the hell?" Dean said suddenly. Cas tilted his head at Dean questioningly. He noticed that the look made Dean's eyes grow soft and wide. "Dude, there's something digging into my pants…And not in the good way that you would like," Dean explained. "What is on this bench?" Now that Dean mentioned it, Cas realized that he was sitting on something. It was flat and square, and he realized that the corner was probably poking Dean's leg. How had he not noticed it before? Cas stood up, and looked under where he had been sitting.

"That was definitely not there when I sat down," he said, tilting his head in confusion again. Sitting on the bench was a square board with the alphabet on it. On the top corners were the words 'yes' and 'no.' In the middle on the bottom was the word 'goodbye.'

"Is that Ouija board?" Dean asked.

"Yes," Castiel said, nodding slowly. Cas had not seen very many scary movies. However, from what he could gather, this certainly seemed like something that would happen in one. "Is there any movie about Ouija boards that you can think of, Dean?" he asked.

"Only about ten million involving them," Dean answered.

"What should we do?"

"I guess we need to take this board back to show Sam and Charlie…" Dean said, looking disappointed at the prospect. He picked up the board to carry out to the car. "Not that this crappy diner is exactly romantic, and not that we're in some chick flick, but…When do you think we're going to finally get to have an actual date, Cas?" Castiel felt the strange feeling that he often had around Dean in which his belly seemed to fill with butterflies.

"Dean…As you know, my people skills are a bit rusty. I don't know a lot about dating but…Haven't we already been on quite a few dates if you think about it? I always value our time together." A small smile spread across Dean's face.

"I do too," he said. He kissed Cas briefly before heading out to the car, without looking around the diner. Cas followed, pausing as Dean turned around to grab their burgers and the pie he had bought which the waitress had just sat on their table. Cas noticed that the hunter's face had a pinkish tint to it as he hurried out of the diner.

Dean was smiling hugely as he started up the Impala. Before he could start to drive, Cas reached out, and turned Dean's face towards his own. He leaned forwards, and kissed Dean, not so briefly. He loved the feeling of Dean's lips against his own, and Dean's fingers tangled in his hair, and the knowledge that his feelings weren't unrequited as he had feared. He would do anything for this man. This was why he had rebelled against his entire family, against Heaven, and everything that he knew. So that he could feel this way. This was it. This was free will in one of its most perfect states. Moments like this were the reason Castiel would always believe that free will was worth fighting for.

They talked about nothing on the way back. It was dark, and hardly any other cars were on the road. Even though they spent much of the ride discussing this worrisome case, and neither of them had anything new to add, it was nice in a way. Dean referenced songs, movies, and television shows of which Castiel had little to no understanding.

"You've been on earth for a long time now, and you're seriously telling me you've never seen batman?" Dean asked.

"I don't understand, Dean, is he a man, or is he a bat?"

"What? Are you freaking kidding me?" Dean practically yelled. Cas could tell that he was not honestly angry, though. Humans often began to act illogical and spastic when it came to their pop culture. They would go on and on about what happened, what should have happened, who was in love with who and why, and all sorts of nonsense. Often they would even grow angry when others didn't understand their perpetual references to favorite movies and television series.

"I am not joking Dean," Cas said. He tilted his head sideways, and widened his eyes at Dean. He realized that it was most likely meant as a rhetorical question, though he wasn't entirely sure. Either way, it produced a nice result. Dean's eyes softened, and Cas found a hand resting on his leg.

"Hey, man, I know," Dean said. "Listen, I'll show it to you sometime."

"It's a date," Cas said. Dean's smile in that moment couldn't have possibly been more adorable. He wanted to kiss his hunter again, but he knew that it was a bad idea sense Dean was driving. So he waited until they were parked in the hotel.

They sat in the parking lot kissing for a long time. Cas wasn't used to this. He didn't have a lot of experience, and he hoped he was doing everything right. Dean seemed to be enjoying it, so he supposed he was.

"We really need to show this board to Sam and Charlie," Dean murmured, without really moving his lips away from Cas'. "We're acting like horny teenagers."

"OK," Cas said. He slowly pulled away with great will power.

"Right," Dean said. "Let's go." He leaned in once again, though, and kissed Cas. This time, Castiel decided to give up. There was no way he would have enough power of will to pull away this time. He had been in love with Dean for so many years, and now they were finally in a good place with their relationship.

"We really need to…board…Charlie…Sam…" Dean said softly in between running his tongue along the top of Cas' mouth.

"Mm," Cas agreed. He found himself leaning forwards more, though, and wrapping his arms around Dean's shoulders. Dean fell backwards against the passenger seat, and Cas was pressed on top of him.

{PART TWO}

"Those two have been parked out there for a long time now," Sam said, glancing out of the window again. He sat down on the bed, and began flipping through one of his many lore books.

"Are you surprised?" Charlie asked. Sam shrugged. He smiled a little, though. He honestly couldn't have been happier. His brother and his best friend were finally working things out. He might have preferred if they weren't doing it (no pun intended) in a car that he often rode in, but still. Sam played in his hands with the strange, wooden, triangle he had found, with the glass circle in the middle. He didn't know what it was, but he'd found it on the floor of their room.

Charlie picked up a book she hadn't yet looked through, and began leafing through. Sam had already pretty thoroughly skimmed that one, though, so he wasn't especially excited about her chances of finding anything helpful. A nice, if total stoner, college kid, had already died when they were supposed to be protecting him. Sam tried to push away the awful image of Rick's dead, terrified face. A few more moments passed when all that could be heard was the rustling of their pages turning.

The moon glinted wickedly outside, seeming to mock their endless struggle. Sam shoved his face into the pillows. He groaned. Charlie didn't look up. He had done this a few times now.

"I can't believe we still haven't found anything. This is supposed to be what I'm good at. I just don't understand…"

There was a knock at the door. Sam hurried over and opened. His brother and Castiel were there. Sam noticed that his big brother was no longer wearing the trench coat. He supposed that Dean was warm enough now.

"Look what we found at the diner," Dean said. Sam noticed for the first time that Dean was holding a square board. Dean handed it to him, and he felt his face freeze. No way. Charlie hurried over and muttered something along the lines of 'Oh my Zelda…'

"Is that a freaking Ouija board?" Sam asked.

"Yes, it is," Castiel put in helpfully. Sam pulled the little wooden triangle he had found on the floor from his pocket. It even had a glass circle in the middle of it. How had ne not realized what it must go with? He showed the triangle to Dean, who pressed his lips together, and shook his head as if in resignation that it was hard to imagine this getting worse.

"Holy freaking Tardis," Charlie muttered. "There's a new movie called 'Ouija' in theatres right now."

"Oh that's just awesome," Dean said. "Have you seen it?"

"No, but it does look awesome…" Charlie answered. She quickly recovered herself after the look the older Winchester gave her. "I mean, this is bad, though. This is really…I don't know what we should do. Should we use it, or try and get rid of it?"


	16. If this were a movie

There were several tense moments of silence following Charlie's question. She almost wished she hadn't been the one to ask. After all, it was a difficult decision.

Every instinct told her that they should get rid of the thing. It was now pretty late at night. The moon was glistening wickedly in through the window. The stars seemed to taunt her as she waited for someone to say something.

If this were a movie, they would use it. They would place their fingers on the little triangle, and ask for a presence to reveal itself, possibly even summoning whatever had been killing college kids. If this were a movie though, violence and gruesome death were sure to prevail.

Charlie had a strange inkling that trying to get rid of the board wouldn't do them any good, though. She did not believe that not watching the tape from the 'Ring' would have benefited anyone. After all, the stoner kid, Rick, would still have seen it and perished.

She felt that they had to use it, by all logic. What else could they do? Burn it? What good would that do? The thing that had put it in the diner for Dean and Cas to find would still be out there. They could throw it away, and then what? Risk someone else finding it? No, she was sure that they were going to have to use it.

Sam set the board down on the little table in the room, where it sat, and seemed to watch them contemplate it. Charlie felt the strangest desire to reach for it, to place her fingers on that triangle. It was as if the board was calling to her. She felt a shiver up her spine that had nothing to do with the chilly October air drifting through the thin window.

"I think we should try to use it. Maybe it will lead us to whatever's behind these deaths," Sam said slowly. Charlie noticed his eyes glued to the letters on the board, though, and she could tell that it was more than that. It was something deeper.

He felt it to, the strange tug that the board had on Charlie. He was staring at it, almost eagerly. She understood. By all logic, they should be apprehensive at the very least. This thing was obviously attached to something evil. No matter what they did, nothing benevolent could come of their endeavors.

"I agree," Dean said. He couldn't seem to take his eyes from the board, either, and sat down slowly. Charlie and Sam each took a chair as well. They were now forming a sort of triangle with their chairs, all facing the board in the middle of the table expectantly. Castiel remained standing. He was looking at the board, but not in the same way as the rest of them. His blue eyes were wide and nervous, and he was watching Dean as if he wanted to pull the hunter away from the board.

"Something isn't right," Cas said. "I know I'm not an angel anymore, but I can still sense that much. There's something evil about this. I didn't feel it until now. For some reason, now that there's actually a chance of using it, it's like you've woken the board up."

"Cas, you realize how crazy that sounds?" Dean said without looking up. Charlie didn't think it sounded crazy. Actually, she was pretty sure Dean didn't think so either.

"Dean…Please. I know you can tell something is wrong," the former angel pleaded. Dean looked up slowly. Castiel's head was tilted to one side, and his deep blue eyes were pleading. Charlie saw the pull of the board vanish from Dean's green eyes when he met Castiel's gaze. She herself was still keeping one eye on the middle of the table, ready to play the sinister game.

"OK," Dean said slowly. He didn't stand up, though. Cas reached down, and grabbed Dean's hand. He slowly pulled Dean away from the table, and turned him so that they were both facing away from the board, still holding hands. "Guys," Dean said. "Cas is right. Something is off here."

"I don't think so," Charlie said involuntarily.

"Think about it Dean, this could be a clue in the case. We're kind of in desperate need of that right now," Sam said. Charlie was barely aware she was doing it as she placed a finer on the triangle. Sam reached out and did the same.

So it was just the two of them playing the deadly game. Charlie knew that it wasn't going to end well. She should be scared. Something was guiding their hands to the letter 'T.' Charlie watched as it was covered by the glass circle. The triangle slid across the board again, this time landing on the letter 'R.'

"Charlie, are you OK?" Dean asked. She looked up at her friend hesitantly. Dean looked scared out of his mind. If she weren't so absorbed in the game, she would have been more concerned.

She was looking at him wide eyed and expectantly. It took a lot to scare a Winchester like that. Well, unless you counted planes when it came to Dean, or clowns when it came to Sam, or the time Dean had gotten ghost sickness and screamed like a girl at the sight of a cat jumping out of a locker...

"I'm fine, Dean. What's wrong?" she asked.

"Charlie, your eyes…." Dean whispered. "They just rolled back into your head a second ago."

"Are you serious?" Charlie gasped.

"Sam, get the holy water," Dean said. Sam didn't move or respond. His head was tilted down. When he looked up, his mouth was stitched shut.

Charlie screamed loudly, but before she could tell anyone what she had seen, there was splash of icy water in her face. Castiel was holding the canteen of holy water from one of the Winchester's suitcases.

"What?" Sam asked. Charlie turned towards him, and gasped. The stitches around his mouth were gone without a trace.

"You didn't see..." she murmured. Sam, Dean and Cas were all looking at her in confusion.

"What?" Dean asked.

"His mouth was just sewn shut," Charlie whispered. "What the hell?" No one answered. Sam was now moving the triangle with his finger, and Charlie hurriedly placed her own pointer back onto of it. The glass circle moved to cover the letter 'I.'

"Stop it, Sammy," Dean pleaded. "Come on Charlie…You guys know better." When neither Sam nor Charlie answered, Castiel swept forward in the purposeful manner he sometimes used, this was made all the more commanding by his trench coat which fluttered around him. He knocked the board onto the ground.

Charlie felt herself coming out of the trance. She blinked rapidly. What had just happened? Sam was rubbing his eyes. They glanced at the ground, but the board and the triangle were gone. Charlie climbed down onto her hands and knees, and began searching under the table, but there was nothing.

The song 'You Shook me All night long" began to play and everyone turned to Dean. Charlie stood up to face him. He reached slowly into his pocket, and pulled out his cell phone. Everyone watched as he answered. He put it on speaker phone.

"Who is this?" asked a deep, menacing voice on the other end.

"Who are you trying to call?" Dean asked.

"I think I have the wrong number," the voice said.

"It happens," replied Dean. He hung up. "Well that was weird," he muttered, pocketing his phone. The song began to play again, though. Charlie wondered if she was the only one who recognized what was happening. No freaking way.


	17. Cuddles and then Death

"Hello?" Dean snapped.

"I'm sorry, I think I have the wrong number," the smooth but creepy voice continued. Dean was still standing in the middle of the room, and Cas, Sam, and Charlie were all staring at him. Castiel was still holding his hand that wasn't holding the phone. It felt as if Cas' hand was the only thing keeping him from freaking out. There was something comforting about that tight grip which had once raised him from perdition.

It was late. He had just completely failed at having an actual conversation with Cas about what they were, and where they're relationship was heading. He, Charlie, and Sam had just fallen prey to some kind of hypnosis performed by a talking board. Whoever this jerk was, Dean was getting ready to go off on them.

"Then why did you dial it again?" he asked.

"To apologize."

"You're forgiven. Bye now," Dean said. He slammed the phone shut. Music began to play: 'She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean. She was the best damn woman that I ever seen.' Dean sighed, and answered.

"Listen asshole," he began in an authoritative voice. It was a tone he was all too used to using. Normally people were intimidated. Not this time.

"No, you listen you little bitch, you hang up on me again, and I'll gut you like a pig!" snarled the wicked voice. Dean hit the red button that ended the call, and then shut down his phone so that he wouldn't even hear it if it rang again. He noticed Castiel's eyes were very wide. He looked a little panic stricken.

Cas turned to Dean, and just sort of stared at him. This was something they had always done. There were a thousand subtle emotions hidden in Castiel's dark blue eyes, and Dean was certain his own expression was giving away the countless little thoughts and feelings he had when he looked at Cas. It was so much more meaningful than words.

It was like they were having a conversation with their minds, one that only the two of them could understand. Dean could feel the concern drifting over him. Castiel didn't agree with his decision to do exactly what the deep voiced stranger had promised would end in his being gutted. Dean was certain that he'd made the right call, as usual, and even if he hadn't, he would never admit it. These conversations they had with their eyes were usual, but what happened next was a little rarer, although not so much tonight. Was it still the same night? Dean could hardly believe that.

Castiel leaned forwards, and broke the small distance between them. He pressed his lips against Dean's. His arms wrapped around Dean's shoulders. Dean leaned into the kiss for a few seconds, comforted by the feeling of his friend and lover against him.

"I'm not sure that was a wise decision, Dean," Cas said softly, leaning his forehead against Dean's so that their faces were still very close, although their lips were no longer touching.

"Well what was I supposed to do?" Dean asked. Castiel sat down on the bed, guiding Dean to follow him. It was now that Dean began to realize how exhausted he really was. He yawned widely, and lay down on the bed. He could feel his eyes drifting closed.

"I don't know…Not that," Cas said in his usual stiff manner.

"Am I the only one who realizes what's happening here?" Charlie asked abruptly.

"Um…?" Dean replied. He was drifting, and pillow felt so good against his head.

"This is the movie 'Scream,'" Charlie said. Dean was vaguely aware that this was something he had seen. Now that Charlie mentioned it he realized that the conversation he had just had seemed familiar to him.

"Oh my Gosh," Sammy murmured. So, Sam had seen it as well. He should be talking with them about the movie, and what they needed to look out for, but at the moment, he just felt sleepy.

Dean felt Castiel reaching underneath him, and pulling the blankets out from under him. He was annoyed for a moment, until he realized that Cas was only trying to put the blankets over him. He was glad then, because the room was very cool, and the covers felt nice wrapped around him. His gladness only increased when he felt his best friend's body pressed against his own beneath the covers.

Dean turned to face Castiel, and was floored as always, by those lovely eyes. Except now it was different. Now he allowed himself to see the utter affection in Cas' eyes. It was nice to have someone look at him like that. He wanted to be closer. He almost forgot that Sam and Charlie were there, and leaned in, kissing Cas' neck.

"Whoa!" Sam called from somewhere on the other side of the room. Dean sighed, and pressed his face into Castiel's chest. Cas laughed a little, and Dean buried his face deeper.

"Shut up," Dean muttered. His voice was muffled by the fabric of Cas' shirt.

"My apologies," Castiel said quickly, sounding so sincere it was kind of heartbreaking.

"I was just kidding," Dean mumbled.

"Oh." Cas sounded so relieved. Dean smiled into his friend's shirt. Cas laid his chin on top of Dean's head, and they held each other close as they drifted to sleep. Charlie and Sam quietly climbed into the other bed together.

"Should we kick Destiel over there back into their room?" Charlie asked Sam. Dean could hear the lack of authority in her voice.

"It's late, everyone is tired, and…" Sammy hesitated, and spoke quietly to Charlie. Dean and Cas weren't supposed to hear, but the older Winchester unburied his face very briefly to share a smile with Castiel, because they both heard. "It's kind of nice to see my brother so happy."

They all woke up at around eight the next morning. It was odd, actually waking at a normal time. The past night had been crazy. So much had happened, and yet they were no further in their investigation.

"Guys?" Charlie asked as she came out of the bathroom wearing a 'Call of Duty' T-shirt, a jacket, and jeans. "Am I the only one who realizes that tonight is that Halloween party the girl from the pie shop invited Cas to?"

"I forgot all about that," Cas admitted distractedly. Dean could tell that the former angel was having trouble focusing with Dean's head in his lap, but he didn't really care. He was still sleepy.

"I think we should go," Dean said without lifting his head. "I don't think any of us have an idea of what's doing this, and the college is our best lead. Let's go check it out."

"You know how the 'Scream' series always breaks the fourth wall?" Sam asked. No one answered. They just waited for Sam to continue. "Well, don't they at some point mention how in horror movies the shit always hits the fan at parties?"

"Then we definitely need to be there," Dean replied.

"Well, I talked to one of the girls whose organizing it, and apparently costumes are required. We should go to a party store and shop," Charlie said.

"When did you have time to talk to the college girls since then?" Dean asked, unable to hide how impressed he was.

"I manage to find time," Charlie said, clearly self satisfied. "Actually, I managed to find time to do more than talk," she continued, smirking.

"Damn," Dean said. "Nice."

"Well, let's go costume shopping, I guess," Sam said. He was trying to sound disgusted, but Dean could hear the hint of excitement in his little brother's voice. It had been a long time since he and Sammy had dressed up for Halloween. Dean wouldn't admit it, but he thought that this was going to be kind of fun. Dean started to lift his head, and Cas carefully placed a hand on the side of his face.

"Why don't you two go out to the car," Castiel said to Sam and Charlie. "We'll um, we'll be right out." Dean smirked. He had expected this for obvious reasons, but he had started to lift his head anyway just to see how the ex-angel with awkward 'people skills' would handle the situation.

"Cuddles and then death and violence and hunting, right guys?" Sammy laughed.

"Not just cuddles, also-" Cas began.

"That's right, Sammy!" Dean said quickly interrupting Cas. Sammy shook his head, laughing, but also a little grossed out as he and Charlie walked out of the door.


	18. Costumes!

Cas had never celebrated Halloween before. Actually, in Heaven, it was looked down upon, sense it was basically revering evil. He was human now though, and he found himself intrigued by the idea of the four of them dressing up in costumes. The party store was filled with everything from horrifying demonic masks made of plastic, to tiny dresses with pictures of beautiful women wearing them on the plastic covers.

Sam and Charlie were off in another section. Cas was sitting on a bench beside a changing room, waiting for Dean to come out. He was sort of excited to see what his hunter had selected. The door of the changing room opened, and Dean came out.

"Well, what do you think?" he asked. Cas felt his lips curl into a smile. Dean was wearing a pair of brown leather pants, a black long sleeved button up shirt, a brown leather vest, and a knitted poncho. He had on a brown cowboy hat, and cowboy boots.

It reminded Castiel of when his hunter had gone back in time to the wild-west. He remembered Dean being pretty excited, because he loved the movies about that era. So, it wasn't really a surprise that this was the costume Dean had chosen. He stood up, and walked over to Dean, wrapping his arms around his neck, and leaning in for a kiss. He couldn't help it, with Dean looking so cute.

Their lips remained pressed together for a few moments. When they parted, Cas didn't take his arms from around Dean's neck. He kept himself pressed against his best friend.

"Does that answer your question?" he asked.

"Not quite," Dean said. "Could you be a little clearer?"

"Oh…I really like it, you look very nice," Cas explained. Dean laughed a little, and leaned in for another kiss.

"Alright, love birds, Cas still needs to pick out a costume," Sam said, coming out from one of the isles filled with costumes.

The younger Winchester was wearing a pair of moose antlers. He also had on a fuzzy brown jacket. Dean turned away from Cas, towards his little brother, and scoffed loudly.

"Charlie picked out my costume," Sam sighed, looking down. He stuck out his lip a little, making wide puppy eyes.

Charlie came out of another isle. She was wearing a long, dark grey trench coat with gold buttons, a white button up shirt, suspenders, and black pants. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail.

"What are you supposed to be, a guy?" Dean asked.

"I'm Captain Jack Harkness," Charlie said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Cas had absolutely no idea who that was. Sam and Dean just shrugged. Apparently the Winchesters had a vague clue at best. "You heathens know nothing of your cultural heritage," Charlie sighed.

"What?" Sam asked.

"It's what Dean said to you once when you didn't get a 'Poltergeist' reference," Charlie replied. She sighed. "I can't believe I remember that, and you don't...Wow."

"Alright, well what are you thinking of being, Cas?" Sam asked.

"I don't know…." Cas admitted. He had not really seen anything that struck him as something he especially wanted to wear. In truth, he was a little apprehensive about choosing a costume. He didn't want to look ridiculous. After all, he had once been a warrior of God. Of course, he was happy to trade that old title to be a part of Team Free Will. He loved the Winchesters, and even cared for Charlie although he had only recently met her. And there was nothing he would not trade to be with Dean.

So, he was going to have to swallow his pride, and pick something. After all, he didn't have a choice. Charlie said that anyone who wanted to get into the party absolutely had to wear a costume. He could feel the wide eyed look of nervousness on his face, though. Dean put an arm around his shoulder.

"That's Ok, man, I'll help you pick," Dean said. "Remember, Halloween is all about being whatever you want, no matter how impossible it is." Cas pressed himself against Dean's side, relieved at the offer.

"So you wish you were a cowboy wearing a blanket?"

"Ok, first of all, it's a serape. Second of all, hell yeah. Cowboys are badass." Dean went back into the changing room, and emerged a few seconds later in his regular clothes, with the cowboy outfit wrapped in its plastic bag in his hand.

They walked through the isles, looking at the various costumes. None of them really appealed to Castiel. Finally, Cas pulled down a pair of white fluffy wings that came with a gold band that was clearly meant to be a halo. Neither of the prompts even remotely resembled the real things.

"I miss my wings," he admitted. "You said Halloween is all about being what you want to be."


	19. Candy & Surprises

Dean was leaning against the Impala drinking a beer. He was in his costume, which he was really pretty happy with. When everyone else was done changing, they were going to head to the party where hopefully they would be able to finally learn more about whatever was trying to re-enact famous horror movies.

Apart from the icy breeze which was causing him to shiver and hug himself, Dean should have been as close to a good mood as he ever was. He wasn't, though. He was obsessing over what Castiel said about missing his wings.

He knew that the former angel loved him. He knew it with all of his heart, and with all of his soul, which Castiel had once raised from perdition. He loved Castiel too. He loved his best friend so much that it hurt to think that Cas could no longer be an angel of the lord.

Of course, it wasn't Dean's fault that Cas had fallen for Metatron's lies and ended up falling to earth. That much was on the scribe of God, who Dean hated so much it made his fists clench until his knuckles paled. It was Dean's fault that Castiel had fallen in the first place, though.

He had convinced Cas to stop following the orders of Heaven. He knew that Heaven was corrupted, and that fighting against it was the right choice. Still, he wondered what Castiel's life would be like if he hadn't been involved in the whole apocalyptic battle. What if another angel had been chosen to grip Dean tight and raise him from perdition?

Dean had to stop thinking about all of this as Sam, Charlie, and Cas came out of the hotel in their costumes. Cas was wearing his usual white shirt and blue tie, but without the trench coat. He had on the gold halo, and white fluffy wings. Sam was wearing his brown fuzzy jacket, and moose antlers, and Charlie was dressed up as Captain Jack Harkness.

"Are you bitches ready to go celebrate Halloween and kick some ass?" Charlie asked.

"I am not a bitch," Cas said to Charlie, very seriously. "I have no possible relation to a female dog, and neither do Sam and Dean."

"Calm down Cas," Dean said, smiling at Cas' lack of social skills. "It's just a thing people say. Watch this." Dean turned to Sam. "Sam, you're such a bitch."

"Jerk," Sam replied without hesitation. Dean punched his brother lightly on the arm, and sat down in the driver's seat of the Impala.

"Really Dean?" Charlie asked.

"What?"

"You have a half empty beer in your hand."

"And?"

"Why don't you let Sam drive?" Dean rolled his eyes, climbing into the passenger seat. Drinking and then driving was just something he sort of did all the time, but no one ever mentioned. It was one of those funny little things about the lives of the Winchesters. Dean supposed that if it was something Chuck mentioned in his books, it would be sending their fans an odd message.

They drove to the college, where they parked in front of the dorm where the party was supposed to take place. It was evening, and the sky was filled with dark grey clouds. Red, orange, and yellow leaves flew around Team Free Will as they made their way towards the door. There were a few college guys in plastic masks walking around the yard. One of them had on a clown mask, and Dean felt Sam moving a little closer to him.

Dean suppressed the laugh that he felt coming. Instead, he placed a hand on his little brother's arm. It didn't matter that Sam was a head taller than Dean. He would always be the little brother.

"It's OK, Sammy," he said quietly, so that Cas and Charlie wouldn't hear. "It's just a mask."

"I know. Jerk," Sam muttered. He didn't shy away from Dean's comforting hand, though.

"Alright, bitch," Dean laughed. It had been a while sense they had done this back and forth thing. He missed those simpler days with him and Sam.

They walked into the party, and looked around. The song 'God bless the youth of America,' by Bird Brain was blasting. There were college students laughing and talking everywhere. Someone was doing a keg stand. A pretty girl wearing a tiny white dress with a stethoscope around her neck came over to them. Dean wondered how she was wearing that tiny dress and not shivering like crazy. That didn't stay on his mind long, though, considering that the dress didn't leave much to imagination, and there was plenty to see.

"Hi!" she said in a perky voice. Dean shook his head, making himself look at her face. He noticed Charlie doing the same.

"Hello Sally," Cas said. Cas knew this girl? Dean felt a surge of jealousy. He had to remind himself that he too had hooked up with a couple of the college girls when they first started working on this case. He had no right to feel the way he did. That didn't stop him from wrapping a purposeful arm around Castiel's waist.

"Hi Cas," she said. She looked meaningfully at Dean. "Is this the um, friend, that you were telling me about when I was selling you that cherry pie?" Dean looked at Cas curiously. Why would Cas be telling this girl about him?

"Um, yes," Cas said. Dean realized that the former angel was actually blushing a little bit. That was something he had never seen before. It was pretty cute, though. "This is Dean, my um…" he trailed off, and Dean realized the awkward situation. There was an excruciating pause, and Cas finally finished the sentence. "My boyfriend." Dean smiled. He could feel a nice, comfortable, warm feeling wash over him. So, one of them had finally said it.

"Hi," Dean said to Sally. She giggled a little.

"I'm so glad things worked out," she said to Cas. "By the way, here you go," She pulled two hand gulls of chocolate out of the pockets in her dress, and handed them to Dean and Cas. "Well, I'll see you guys later." She walked off to talk to a group of girls who were doing shots off of each other's belly buttons.

"Wait," Dean asked Cas. "What was she talking about?"

"Do you remember that cherry pie I bought the other day?" Cas asked.

"Yeah…"

"Well, I kind of got it, and I was uh…I was planning on telling you how I felt." They moved out of the middle of the room as they talked, and sat down together on a beanbag off to the side. There were a couple of college kids smoking out of a bong nearby.

"Wait, you were?" Dean asked. "I had no idea."

"Well, I'm happy with the way things worked out…Aren't you?" Cas asked.

"I am," Dean said. He hesitated. He wasn't sure what he could say about worrying over Cas missing his wings. 'Jeez, I'm really sorry you've gone from being an angel of the lord to making out with a guy dressed as a cowboy' just didn't seem like the thing to say.

"So what's wrong?" Cas did that stupid head tilt that always made Dean melt. He was starting to wonder if Cas knew this, and was using it.

"It's just…You want to be an angel, Cas, remember?"

"Of course I do. As I believe you would put it, I was much more badass as an angel."

"I know that," Dean said. "And it's my fault you fell."

"How is that? I'm the one who listened to Metatron's lies."

"I mean the first time," Dean said. Cas did the last thing Dean had expected. He laughed. Dean looked at Cas in amazement. "What the hell?" he asked.

"Only you would find a way to feel bad about that," Cas said. "Dean…Heaven was corrupt. They were trying to jump start the apocalypse. I helped save the world, because of you. Before I met you, I was a hammer, as you said. When I met you, I began to have fears, and doubts. For the first time, I began to feel. I'll never be able to thank you enough for teaching me about free will, and love. There are no words."

"OK, Team Free Love," said Sam's voice. Dean looked up slowly from the beautiful, reassuring, blue eyes that were staring at him with such total devotion. "Enough chick flick nonsense, there's someone walking around back dressed as Ghost Face, from 'Scream.' It could just be a costume, but there's no one else out there, so I doubt it. We need to check this out."

"Oh shit," Dean muttered. He scrambled to his feet, and grabbed Cas' hand, helping the former angel up. He didn't let go of the hand clasped in his own as they headed for the back door. They walked out into the cold yard.

The grey clouds in the sky were making it very dark. Dean squeezed Cas' hand as they hurried towards a group of trees with pale bark that gave them a ghostly look. The leaves which were the color of flames were drifting down gradually. Something shadowy moved near one of the trees.  
>There was a figure, standing in the shadows. It turned towards them, and revealed a pale face with blacked out eyes, and a wide mouth as if it were screaming. Something glinted beside it. The figure held up a silver knife, which was gleaming from the little light that the stars provided.<p>

"It's Ghost Face," he whispered to Castiel, knowing that his boyfriend wouldn't recognize the face. "He's the villain from 'Scream.'"

The figure was walking towards them. They all exchanged a glance. No one seemed sure what to do. They had all brought several different kinds of weapons, sense they had no idea what this was. The figure finally reached them, and slowly took off its mask. They all gasped at once, which would have been kind of funny except that the face that the thing revealed was shockingly familiar. This was impossible.

"Surprised guys?" it asked


	20. What's your favorite scary movie?

"Rick?" Dean was the first to speak after a shocked silence. It was the strange man who had been killed by the horrible woman who came out of the television. Castiel carefully placed himself very slightly in front of Dean.

He didn't want his hunter to see this, because he knew how Dean wouldn't want to be considered in need of protecting. When he shifted, he saw something move behind a tree in an area of the yard that was behind Rick. It was someone in a dark colored trench coat, and Cas noticed a flash of bright red that wasn't from the leaves.

"You died," Cas said. He immediately realized that it was a dumb thing to say. Of course Rick had died. They had all seen his horrified face after the woman from the well had attacked him when Team Free Will was out of the room.

"Oh come on," Rick laughed. "It takes more than that to kill me."

"What the hell are you?" Sam asked.

"I'm a trickster," Rick said, grinning.

"Gabriel?" Sam asked, confused. "I thought-"

"No, not an archangel, a trickster," Rick repeated. "Gabriel took all the glory from us real tricksters." Castiel noticed that the slow, hoarse, sound to Rick's voice was gone. Now he had a slightly high pitched voice that was rather unpleasant, and reminded Castiel of a whining child. "I mean, yes, we freaking get it. Gabriel was adorable, and funny, and clever, and his tricks had a certain poetic justice to them, and he was incredibly attractive, and-" Rick stopped himself. "OK, that doesn't sound like something I would say, seeing as how I hated the guy. That was weird. It was almost like some writer was making me say what they were thinking…Anyway…Didn't you guys ever wonder about a real, actual trickster?"

"Um, not really…" Sam said nervously. "A real trickster, huh?"

"Oh, son of a bitch!" Dean sighed. "Seriously?" Dean turned towards the younger Winchester. "Sammy please tell me you remember how to kill these bastards?"

"Yeah…You're not going to like it," Sam replied.

"Lay it on me," Dean said.

"You have to stab it through the heart with a stake soaked in the blood of its victims."

"Of course it would be something like that!" Dean groaned. "Son of a bitch…" Castiel tried not to be too obvious about the fact that he was carefully watching the trees behind Rick.

The figure he had seen before was now approaching closer. He could see Charlie's nervous face as she prowled behind the trickster. She put a finger in front of her lips, warning the Winchesters and Castiel to be quiet. She was holding something beneath her trench coat. She pulled it out, and Cas saw that it was a branch from one of the trees she had been hiding amongst.

The trickster turned around sharply, and Charlie gasped, backing up. The trickster was smiling hugely, and the whites of his cruel eyes were much more haunting than any mask could ever be. He licked his lips, and everyone shuddered a little.

"Hello Charlie," he said. "I was wondering when you would show up to save these lovely ladies. Well, actually, I was wondering if you would end up arriving at all. I noticed you were a bit busy with some other women who I'm not so sure would call ladies."

"They were perfectly nice-" Charlie began to protest.

"I'm sure they were," the trickster interrupted. "I'll bet these two," he nodded at Dean and Castiel who shared a confused look. "Would be interested to know that you were, shall we say, 'talking' with two young girls dressed in exactly the same clothes these friends of yours usually wear?"

"What?" Dean asked.

"It's called cosplay," Charlie snapped. "They liked my Captain Jack Harkness costume."

"Anyway, none of that is important," the trickster continued. "What is important is that you're here. And I get to kill you."

"What?" Charlie asked in a squeaky voice. "You know, I hear injury is what's cool right now. All the best villains are doing it. Actually, not even serious injury, just, you know, like mild cuts and stuff." Castiel could hear her voice growing higher and higher.

"Do you?" the trickster laughed. "I guess it doesn't really matter what you've heard, because you don't get to have a say in any of this. After all, I'm the one with the power. All you have is this stupid twig. If you had done your research, you would know that it needs to be soaked in the blood of my victims to do any good against me."

Charlie dove forwards. She looked shocked at her own actions. She shoved the stick hard into the trickster's heart as she shoved him to the ground. She placed one foot over his torso. He gasped as a pool of red began to build around where the stake had pierced.

"Luckily, I did do my research," Charlie said. "Well, technically, I just listened to what Sam said literally two minutes ago, but I guess that counts as research." The trickster choked, and he grew completely still. It was apparent from the cold, empty, look in his eyes that he was gone. He was really dead.

"Charlie, how the hell did you do that?" Dean asked in shock.

"I'm one of his victims, so I just kind of," she pulled back her sleeve to reveal a bloody, scratched up area along her arm. Cas winced. He wished he still had his angelic ability to heal. It was obvious that she had used the rough bark of the stick to tarnish her own skin. "Made do. It's not like I had time to dig up one of his past victims' graves or anything so…I remembered that the vampire stripper we met bit me on the neck. I figure, that makes me one of his victims. I mean, who said the victims actually had to be dead, right? It just-" Before Charlie could finish, Dean was pulling her into a tight hug. After a moment, Sam joined in.

"Oh come here, you," Dean sighed. He grabbed Cas by the arm, and pulled him into the group hug. They were all standing around the dead trickster, having a group hug.

"Isn't this very-" Cas started to speak.

"Oh, no, don't even make fun of this," Charlie said. "We just defeated the damn trickster, we-"

"But Charlie-"

"Nope."

"But-"

"Nope."

"What if students start coming out here?" Castiel finally managed to burst out. They all separated then, and looked down at the body together.

"Well, yeah…We should probably….We should probably do something about the body," Charlie agreed sheepishly.

So they lifted him up together, and snuck him out to the Impala. There were a few uncomfortable moments when they all had to band around the corpse tightly to hide what they were carrying. It was so dark, though, and everyone seemed to be intoxicated with something, that no one paid much attention to them.

They put the body into the Impala, and all piled into the car. Normally Sam ended up in the passenger seat, but Cas jumped in before the younger Winchester could this time, because he was sort of hoping that Dean would reach over and possibly place a hand on his lap during the car ride. Dean turned the key, and the motor came on with a purr. A song with the lyrics 'we will, we will, rock you,' began to play. Cas liked it. There was a nice rhythm, and a nice catchiness, and it certainly seemed fitting after the victory over the trickster.

Cas pulled the assortment of sweets Sally had given him at the party out of his pocket. He unwrapped one and was about to eat it when Dean took it, and swallowed it. He looked at Dean carefully. He tilted his head to the side, and his eyes begged the question of why Dean would do something like that. Dean laughed so hard he ended up zooming through a red light.

They parked at the hotel, and Sam and Charlie climbed out. Before Dean got out of the car, he placed a kiss on Cas' cheek. He handed him a chocolate out of his own pocket.

"Sorry," he said. "Here you go."

"Aww," Sam teased. Dean playfully punched his brother on the shoulder. They all headed back to the first room they had originally booked. Sam and Charlie seemed to have forgotten that they had ended up getting their own room. Cas for one didn't mind this, he was glad to celebrate with his friends.

He was glad to celebrate with them as long as they didn't say anything about the fact that Dean kept kissing Cas every few minutes. They didn't complain at all, though. Actually, they just giggled a lot.

It was cold in the room. The crack in the window allowed the chill of autumn to creep into the room, but after changing back into his normal clothes, including his trench coat, Cas didn't mind so much. It was a good excuse to snuggle close to Dean on the bed they were sitting on together as they talked, and watched television.

"What's your favorite scary movie?" asked a horribly familiar voice. They all stopped talking and turned towards the television, where the voice was coming from. It was the eerie voice of 'Ghostface.' A pretty blonde girl was on the phone, leaning against a kitchen counter and playing with a set of cutlery on the screen.

"Mm, 'Nightmare on Elm Street,'" she replied. "What's yours?" Charlie reached over and flipped off the television. She placed the remote on the table beside the bed she and Sam were sitting in.

"I think we can all agree that we've had enough of scary movies lately?" she asked.

"Yes, I would agree with that Charlie," Cas said seriously.

"It was a rhetorical question," Dean whispered in Cas' ear. He ended up pressing his lips just below Cas' ear, and moving a bit closer. His lips were moving carefully against Castiel's neck. Cas tried to squeeze himself closer to Dean, which was a difficult feat as they were already pressed as tightly together as their layers of clothing would allow.

"OK…Well, I think I know what we're missing here," Sam said loudly. Dean's looked up from his current activity, to Cas' disappointment.

"What?" Dean asked.

"Pie," Sam answered. "Me and Charlie will go get some, won't we Charlie?"

"Oh, um, yeah," Charlie said quickly. "And we won't be back for a good…Mm…Thirty minutes at least."

Sam and Charlie left the room, and Dean leaned in to kiss Cas on the lips. The hunter wrapped his arms around the former angel, and Cas found himself buried in the pillows and blankets, sinking into the mattress as Dean pressed his body on top of Cas'. The kissed frantically, both panting, their bodies rocked against one another's, their hands were everywhere. Dean's tongue was pressed against the roof of Cas' mouth. Cas reached down Dean's pants, and began trying new things. This was all so new, and amazing.

Cas was finding that the longer he spend as a human, the more he enjoyed the endless feelings that he had never experienced before. Well, that wasn't exactly true. It wasn't just the longer he was human. It was the longer he spent with the Winchesters, especially the Winchester who was currently unzipping Castiel's pants. Castiel had been in existence for so many thousands of years he had lost track. Yet he didn't believe that he had been truly alive until he met Dean Winchester. His rebellion against Heaven had been the beginning, and it would hopefully never end.

Saving people, hunting things, the Winchester family business. They had been kind enough to let Castiel into their little family, and now they were Team Free Will. They were unstoppable. Sam, Dean, Castiel and some amazing friends, like Charlie.

They had won. They had really won. They had solved the case, and beat the trickster, and now they were going to eat pie after engaging in a bit of hedonism. Team Free Will was the best group in the universe to be a part of.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

If you are reading this, you are legend...wait for it...dary XD Seriously, you are awesome and legendary, and amazing, and profound, and awesome if you read my story. Thanks so much, especially to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited (shut up, it's a word!) this. I hope you guys had fun reading it, because it was definitely fun to write. I am sort of new to fanfiction, but I'm having a lot of fun with it. (Too much fun? Nope, not a thing. An addiction? The first step is admitting I have a problem...Well, unless if I have no intention of stopping. Then I guess its not a step...) Anyway, the point is, I'll be writing more. Especially more Destiel. It's not an obsession it's a...Ok, yeah, its an obsession. But how can television give me such a cool ship and I'm expected to not become obsessed? It's impossible not to be. Wow, this note is turning out to be a super long note. The point is, you are LEGENDARY. Don't ever change (5x4 reference ;)


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